Bowser's Skeletal Extravaganza
by LooseGazpacho
Summary: Bowser goes on a quest for a bigger army while he gets to know oddities about the world. Featuring characters from other universes.
1. Wednesday Revelation

There was an far away monarchy named Mushroom Kingdom. This kingdom consist of numerous ecosystems, ranging from poisonous swamps, gloomy forests, burning hot deserts and many more. However by far the most populated area in this land is a rather small town named Toad Town, which is located somewhere in the grassland area.

The brick roads of the town were accompanied by a few broadleaf trees and patches of grass on the each side. The colorful stone-made houses were placed near the roads, randomly placed altogether. In the middle of the town there was a large sparkling fountain. The water gently flew down the architecture from a five point star statue. The birds were bathing in the water. Around the town there were little mushroom-like fellows named Toads walking around and minding their own business. Behind the town there was a big gray castle with orange roofs. The castle had a giant stained glass in the middle. The stained glass had the figure of a blonde princess in pink dress on it. In front of the castle there was a wooden bridge, connecting the land and the building itself. The towering albeit majestic castle was surrounded by clear water with few fish in it.

Nothing eventful was happening in the town….or at least every day that is not Wednesday.

Every single Wednesday they get attacked by the opposing kingdom. That kingdom is known as Bowser's Kingdom, named after the fierce but dim-witted tyrant himself. Every single invasion ends up him kidnapping the monarch of the Mushroom Kingdom herself, Princess Peach. Luckily for her she always gets saved by her loyal plumbers, Mario and Luigi. In the end of the day, Bowser's rear always gets kicked. But on one certain Wednesday, things went down quite differently than usual.

It was a sunny, cloudless day in Toad Town. Toads were just doing their own business, be it trading or just being nice to each other. Mario, Luigi and Peach were having a tea party in the castle. The light through stained glass reflected beautifully on the checkered floor. The walls were painted in blue, accompanied by the paintings of the fluffy clouds and sentient hills. The trio were sitting behind the round table, sipping the tea that Peach has made.

"Mamma Mia! That is a very good-a tea!" complimented Mario.

"Thank you for inviting us for a tea-a party, Princess!" Luigi also complimented Peach.

"Aww, I'm glad that you guys like it." smiled Peach towards them.

Suddenly dark thundering clouds appeared out of nowhere. The once cloudless, blue sky turned into a thunderous, darkness filled celestial dome. Residents were panicking over the drastic change, running around circles in the town. Multiple lightnings struck down the soil of the town. No trees were damaged though. The thunder echoed through the town and beyond. Even the sentient hills were frightened. The interior of the castle darkened a lot. Peach was shaking in fear while Mario was looking around confusingly. Luigi nearly fell unconscious because of this.

"Luigi!" shouted both Mario and Peach, being concerned for his well being.

Numerous flashes enlightened the entire castle. Every time a burst of light happened, a silhouette appeared behind the stained glass. An imposing, turtle-like silhouette. Luigi regained his consciousness and noticed the threat. Mario and Luigi quickly recognized the shadow behind the glass and glared menacingly at it. Peach stood behind them, knowing that she will be safe.

"GWAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR!" the reptilian silhouette roared with laughter. Suddenly the silhouette jumped through the stained glass and absolutely shattered it into pieces. It was none other than Bowser, their mortal arch-nemesis. Bowser landed on the checkered floor, breaking some of the tiles in the process. Mario and Luigi put up their fists as they were about to fight. The menacing turtle looked at his enemies.

"Hey, Mario! Guess what day it is? It is the day where I SWOOP Peach right in front of your nose and claim your kingdom as MINE!" said Bowser as he prepared himself to reach Princess Peach.

The plumbers stared down to him as they were about to strike Bowser any moment now. They stared at him for quite some time. Suddenly their frowns and glaring eyes turned into a smile and they looked very relaxed. They were waving their hands as they were about to leave Bowser. Even Peach was waving towards Bowser. She was giggling at this.

"...WHAT?! WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?! HOW DARE YOU LAUGH AT ME! DID I SAY SOMETHING FUNNY?" roared the enraged Bowser.

Bowser noticed something weird about this situation.

"Huh….my knees feel a bit funny." he said, checking the wobbly feeling of his legs.

Little did he know that Mario, Peach and Luigi were expecting him to attack. Luigi pointed at the floor. Bowser looked at the floor and saw that he landed on a large spring.

"WHA-" screamed Bowser before he was launched off, flying right through the very stained window that he obliterated. He was yelling through out the whole of his "journey"

"So long, King Bowser!" said Mario as he laughed harder with his companions.

The dark clouds have disappeared from the sky and it was blue once again. Bowser was flying through the Toad Town. He was flailing his arms through the whole time. During his flight he could see the other lands as well, even the far away sea and the sentient hills of the near. The direction of his flight seemed like it's gonna end near the fountain, where a bunch of Toads gathered together. Toads revealed that they were preparing a huge trampoline for him. Bowser hit the trampoline with high velocity and full force, but the trampoline was sturdy and flexible enough to bounce him high in the air once again. Toads cherished this moment with all their joy and jumped in the air, knowing that they defeated their enemy.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Bowser as he was launched in the air once again.

The direction of the traveling turtle was south, approaching the poisonous swamps. The swamps were covered in purple fog. The gloomy, spiky trees accompanied the scattered ponds. At the edge of the swamp there was a crystal clear pond, standing out of the other toxin-filled ponds. It seemed like Bowser was going to land right into the clean pond. Bowser somehow dodged all the trees while falling in the straight line and splashed right into that pond. He did not stay for too long as the giant boxing glove spring from the bottom of the lake punched him and sending him right back into the atmosphere once again. Bowser couldn't even react because this happened so quickly. This time he was gaining height vertically.

The troposphere above the swamps was full of fluffy, cotton-like clouds, which were slowly floating to the destination unknown. The sun shone through them with sunshine popping out of them. Some of the clouds were formed together, looking like an ocean of aerosol. Bowser was still flailing his arms like a maniac. He passed through multiple clouds as he slowly started to lose speed. At the certain height, he disappeared in the very thick cloud. For few moments he was stuck in that cloud. Nothing could be heard but silence.

Suddenly Bowser was launched out of the aforementioned cloud, being faster than before. However, he didn't even bother to react. He just sighed and supported his head with his left arm, embracing his impending fate. His orange eyebrows were wiggling around as the wind blew in them. He was approaching the surface with almost the speed of sound. Once he passed through all the view-obscuring clouds again, he saw his destination. It was his own kingdom.

The corrosive red soil painted the barren wasteland that was his kingdom. The land was surrounded by the boiling lava instead of gentle water. The volcanoes were emerging from the lakes of lava, constantly spouting the hot molten substance, filling the lakes with it. In the middle of the land an enormous dark gray castle stood proudly. The entrance had a giant sculpture of Bowser's head on it, which would welcome any guest with dread. The roof resembled Bowser's own shell. The towers were designed so they would resemble Bowser's arms. The castle signified the tyrant's malicious influence. The castle was connected by the robust, metallic bridge. Bowser, still in the same pose, crashed right before the bridge, leaving a rather large crater and dust flew up in the sky. Once the dust settled, Bowser stood up, having no bruises anywhere on his body. Only a bit of dust was in his eyes, but he cleaned them out quickly. He looked at his castle and took a deep breath before suddenly smashing his fist in the ground, causing a tiny earthquake. He then stomped the ground with his bulky feet, causing even more minor earthquakes.

"THAT'S IT! THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'VE BEEN SO HUMILIATED IN MY LIFE!" roared Bowser as he raised his arms in the air, vowing revenge. He slowly walked to the entrance, stomping all the way through.

The turtle men named Koopas and brown bipedal fungus-like creatures named Goombas were residing in the castle. They could feel the stomps of their enraged ruler as they bounced around the concrete floor.

"Prepare yourself, boys! The King's coming!" screamed a random Koopa as the two lines of people were created by the both sides of the red carpet, on one side Koopas and on the other side Goombas, standing calmly like statues. The stomping abruptly stopped. Koopas and Goombas were breathing heavily, knowing what would happen next.

Bowser punched the massive door, sending it thrusting through the hallway. The door crashed into another door and fell in pieces.

"Whelp, here goes the new door that we've been repairing for months." sighed a generic Goomba.

Bowser, having a scowling frown on his face and lowered eyebrows, was stomping to the end of the hallway while his troops were trembling in their knees.

"H-h-h-how was your day, Your Majesty?" asked an unimportant Koopa.

Bowser stopped at that Koopa and glared at him with steam coming out of his nose. His eyes were filled with the fires of wrath. His fists were shaking like an volcano that was about to erupt.

"How was it? HOW WAS IT?! DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT'S BEEN A GOOD DAY FOR ME?" said Bowser, pointing at his eyes. He then stomped further as his troops were bouncing on the floor.

The unsatisfied king continued walking towards the exit after his tantrum has subsided.

Later that day he was sitting on his beloved throne, constantly tapping the arm of the chair with his meaty fingers. The humongous, spiky throne styled after himself was surrounded by the barren gray walls of the castle. The room was lightened by the golden chandeliers which spherical beings with jagged teeth like Chain-Chomps held them from the ceiling. These chandeliers weren't the only source of the light. Some of the floor had holes in it. They were filled with lava. On the walls from all sides were pictures of Bowser himself performing various acts such as terrorizing the inhabitants of the unknown kingdom, bombarding Mushroom Kingdom with his wooden, ferocious airships and playing tennis with Princess Peach. However the biggest picture was just behind the throne. It covered three of the fourths of that wall. It portrayed himself, standing proudly with his own eight children. Below the picture there was a caption that said: "Me with my family, being awesome!".

Bowser was just staring at whatever was in front of his nose, still tapping his fingers on the arm of the throne and not changing his expression at all. He didn't even blink at all for hours.

Suddenly a robed turtle wizard broke through the door, slamming it hard on the wall. It was Kamek, his loyal companion. Bowser has noticed him but he didn't react in any way.

"Master Bowser! What is the reasons for such sour mood?" asked Kamek.

"Oh, nothing. It was just that I'VE BEEN FLYING OVER THE ENTIRE MUSHROOM KINGDOM LIKE A FOOL." replied Bowser, with all of his rage intact.

"Calm down, Your Mayesty! It was just a bad day! Don't take it to your stone cold heart too much." tried Kamek to calm down Bowser, but to no effect.

"Kamek, you don't get the point! It's not just that I've been humiliated so hard, it's the fact that THEY KNEW I WAS COMING! THOSE PESKY PLUMBERS KNEW WHEN AND WHERE I WAS ABOUT TO LAND! THEY EVEN KNEW HOW TO SEND ME BACK THERE! I've spend months, MONTHS, preparing for my "THUNDEROUS SURPRISE SWOOP" plan and it was all for NOTHING! The worst part is…..I didn't even lay a finger on Princess Peach. She….didn't took me seriously at all..." said Bowser as his emotions changed from blazing fury towards the unusual somberness of his. He looked at the floor and sniffed quietly.

"….Darn. Sorry to hear that, King Bowser." said Kamek, thinking about helping Bowser but he had no idea how to help. He scratched her chin, trying to come up with a decent idea.

"Maybe…..maybe we should attack someday that is not Wednesday." said Kamek.

"Bwah! You know I'm busy every single day in the week that is not Wednesday!? As a king I have duties to do!" Bowser quickly disputed Kamek's claims.

Long silence followed after this conversation. They were both thinking of a solution to this problem.

"Kamek…." Bowser suddenly spoke in a calm way.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" asked Kamek.

"Did I become too….uhhh….rusty?" asked Bowser somberly.

"What? N-n-no, Your-" spouted Kamek before Bowser slammed his fist on the arm, interrupting whatever Kamek was about to say.

"HAVE YOU NOT BEEN LISTENING TO ME BEFORE? I WOULDN'T BE SAYING THIS IF NONE OF THIS NONSENSE WOULD HAPPEN!" raged Bowser for a bit, before taking a deep breath and trying to come up with something rational.

"I've become predictable for them….What should I do to….NOT be as EMBARRASSINGLY DEFEATED AS I WAS TODAY?!" shouted Bowser so much that it echoed through the entire castle.

"Perhaps...you should start a new way..." said Kamek before being silenced by the sound of Bowser slamming his fist in the arm of the chair again, but this time he stood up as he was about to beat someone.

"WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY? ARE YOU SAYING THAT I SHOULD…..GIVE UP? NO! I, THE GREAT AND ALMIGHTY BOWSER, WILL NEVER GIVE UP PURSUING PRINCESS PEACH, EVEN IF IT WILL TAKE MILLION YEARS! I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPING HER FOR YEARS AND I SHOULD JUST TOSS THAT LIKE NOTHING? THAT IS ONE OF THE STUPIDEST IDEAS I HAVE HEA-" hammed up Bowser so much that lava almost smelled like bacon.

"...I was about to say that you should change your approach towards kidnapping Peach, not abandoning your villainous roots but okay." Kamek quietly interrupted Bowser's glamorous rant.

"...OH?! So that's what you meant? Go on then…tell me about this "new ways" of kidnapping Princess Peach." said Bowser as he returned to his throne and sat down.

"Well...I would suggest invading her kingdom with something else than Koopas and Goombas."

advised Kamek, which Bowser surprisingly thought about it in depth.

"Hmmm...come to think of it…..Mario and Green Sta...uhh...Luigi do destroy my army single handily….more often than they should…." thought Bowser out loud.

Kamek suddenly remembered why he did visit Bowser. He said: "Oh, I have forgotten about what was I supposed to tell you, Master Bowser!".

"Yeah, what is it?" asked Bowser as raised both of his eyebrows. He made a gesture with his fingers like he was planning something.

"Well...come with me, King. I must show you something" said Kamek.

Kamek lead Bowser through out his castle to reach the balcony, which was located just below the gigantic roof. The balcony had the fence out of marble placed on the edges. A person could get a nice sight of Bowser's kingdom in this place. In the far distance there were large mountains, which at the certain height were covered by the black clouds. These mountains were surrounded by the fellow volcanoes and lava lakes. The particles of dust could be seen by the naked eye.

"Do you see these mountains, Your Highness?" asked Kamek.

"Yes, I have eyes you know." replied Bowser in a deadpan way.

Kamek pointed at the middle mountain and explained: "Well on the highest mountain we have discovered a rather old looking warp pipe there-".

"DOES THAT MEAN THAT THOSE CURSED PLUMBERS HAD A SECRET ENTRANCE TO MY LAIR ALL THE TIME AND I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT IT?" Bowser interruped Kamek once again with his sudden outburst.

"Fortunately no, Majesty. That is, indeed, not a secret path." said Kamek.

"Phew….perhaps the idea for a secret path to my lair for them is too far-fetched right?" calmed down Bowser.

Kamek continued his explanation: "Perhaps...Anyway….There isn't much information about the pipe. There's only a sign that says: "Enter at your own risk. Seriously. I don't even know where this leads to.". It is located at the highest peak, right on the top, if you are curious."

Bowser looked at the Kamek with curiosity and asked: "Does that mean that this pipe…..might lead to another world?".

Kamek shrugged off with his arms. "Why do you ask, Your Majesty?" he asked.

"If I go to another world…..I COULD BUILD AN ARMY OF PEOPLE STRONGER THAN MARIO! YEAH!" he shouted, but not as loud that it would echo through out the kingdom.

"Uhh...are you sure about..." asked Kamek in concern but Bowser disappeared from his sight. The Koopa wizard looked around to see where did his king go. For a few seconds there was not a single sound through out the entire kingdom. Kamek cleaned his glasses for a bit for the better vision. Suddenly a noise could be heard. It was similar to a tiny propeller cutting through air, making a low sounding but high pitched noise. Once Kamek cleared his vision, he saw Bowser soaring through skies with his own personal transport, the round Koopa Clown Car. He was also laughing like a maniac.

"….that." frowned Kamek upon seeing his king recklessly flying to the new destination.

Suddenly Bowser turned 180 degrees around and rushed back to his home.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!" he was screaming through out the whole time while he was rushing back home. Kamek flinched for a moment when he saw Bowser's sudden decision. Bowser crashed right into the balcony with his Clown Car, but none of the balcony was seriously damaged and the vehicle itself only had few bruises on it.

"HOW DID THIS SLIP OUT OF MY MIND?!" he vigorously shouted as he bum-rushed through his entire castle. Kamek just stared at this, being speechless.

In the northwest tower of the castle there was a large kids room. There were four bunk beds in the room, all of them shaped in the Bowser's style. The walls of this room were colored in almost the same way as Princess Peach's castle, except that instead of sentient hills and stars were rugged looking mountains and chains coming out of the lava. On one of their walls there was a medium sized TV, which had a console plugged in below. The console was called Super Bowsercube 64 Deluxe Edition, which was a bootleg consisting of multiple consoles. There were eight kids in the room, playing with their console. These kids of different appearances were called Ludwig, Morton, Lemmy, Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Larry and Bowser Jr.. The game was played by Morton, Roy, Ludwig and Bowser Jr.. The other Koopalings were intensely looking at the game and rooting for whoever they wanted.

Suddenly Bowser entered the room with force. All of the kids jumped in surprise.

"JUNIOR AND KOOPALINGS! I MAY NEED YOU FOR A MOMENT!" he shouted like it was an urgency.

"What is it, Papa?" they asked.

Bowser sat down next to them and took a deep breath, having a hard time explaining his decision.

"Well, you see….Dad's gonna go on a journey...Perhaps a long one at that. So I'm not gonna be home for quite some time." he said, almost bursting in the tears.

"Where are you going, pops?" asked Bowser Jr..

"….I dunno, Junior. But I guarantee you this: Once I come back….I WILL HAVE A STRONG ARMY! ENOUGH STRONG THAT IT WILL CRUSH MARIO LIKE A BUG!" he declared, much to his own kid's joy.

"Can we go, can we go too?" asked Larry and Iggy.

Bowser looked sadly at them, knowing that he can't fulfill their desires.

"….Sorry, but I can't let you. It's….too dangerous for all of you." he murmured while looking at the floor.

"Awwww…." all of the kids shouted in union.

"I WANNA SMASH!" shouted Morton as he stomped on the floor.

Bowser pat Morton's shoulder and said: "You will smash your enemies like bugs, Morton. WE ALL WILL…..but once I know it will be safe for all of you to join my cruise. However…..".

The kids looked at their dad, curiously waiting what will he say.

"…..you can all take control of my kingdom when I'm gone!" he promised them.

The kids gasped in excitement. "REALLY?" they all shouted in surprise.

"YES INDEED, MY CHILDREN! BUT….TAKE CARE OF IT! DON'T LEAVE IT IN SHAMBLES, PLEASE!" he ordered them with excitement.

Koopalings and Junior all cheered for Bowser's statement. "THANKS, DAD!" they all shouted.

"YOU'RE WELCOME! BUT NOW I MUST GO! I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!" he said as he was about to leave their room but stopped.

"Just...one more thing." he said as he proceeded to hug all of his kids. He slightly squeezed them but not too much and then he let them go continue playing their games.

"BYE, POPS!" they all shouted as they waved at him in farewell.

Bowser rushed through the castle once again, this time returning to the balcony, where he had his Koopa Clown Car "parked". He jumped straight in the vehicle but before he went on the journey, he gave an order to Kamek: "KAMEK! YOU MUST TAKE CARE OF MY KIDS WHILE I'M ABSENT! THAT IS YOUR ONLY ORDER TODAY!".

"Yes, Sir Bowser!" he saluted towards the ascending Bowser. After his king left the area, he turned around a sighed: "Oh dear…..".

Bowser was slowly approaching the mountains, flying higher and higher. He reached the layer of black, particle filled clouds. He couldn't see anything but dust when he flew through the clouds. He covered his nose so that particles of dust won't enter his nostrils. Some of the particles did go in his eyes so he was squinting during the time he flew through the fog. After the minutes of the flight he finally escaped the clouds. He cleaned his eyes out and threw the particles back into the clouds but due the wind, which was blowing towards him, made particles enter his mouth. He started coughing loudly. Bowser coughed so hard that he spat a fireball towards the clouds. Once the fireball reached the clouds, an explosion occurred in them due the explosive nature of the particles. Bowser stared at the moment with wide eyes, not expecting that would happen at all. He quickly returned to his own plan and flew higher towards the highest mountain.

The highest mountain (actual name unknown) dwarfed other mountains in comparison. Some of the mountains had their peaks showing just barely over the layer of fog. The aforementioned mountain on other hand, was so high that it almost seemed that it could reach stratosphere. On the peak there was a rusty steel pipe, standing over the kingdom like a lonely buzzard. There was a sign next to it that said: " Enter at your own risk. Seriou-". The sign couldn't display its full message because half of it fell off.

Bowser finally reached the pipe. He was floating right above it. He looked at it and smirked.

"HAH! NOW I HAVE FINALLY FOUND YOU, PIPE! NEW SOLDIERS TO GAIN AND NEW WORLDS TO CONQUER! HERE I GO!" he screamed as he jumped out of his Clown Car.

He fell like a stone being thrown out of the window. He was also laughing during his descent. He landed in the pipe but he got stuck in it. The joy on his face quickly turned into frustration.

"ARGH! STUPID PIPE!" he shouted once again as he attempted to squeeze in the pipe so he could finally reach another world. After few seconds he finally fell in the pipe, rapidly accelerating his fall into the unknown.


	2. Sewer Rats

The pipe that Bowser entered lead to an underground infrastructure made out of complex of tunnels. The brown walls of the pipes were full of decaying rust and filthy mold. In the middle of pipes a repulsively green water, containing variety of quite repugnant and unsavory stuff, slowly flown across it. The flowing fluid was accompanied by sidewalks on both sides, on which rats, filled with fleas, quietly crawled on them. Ceilings occasionally had steel manholes on them, some of them closed and some of them open. The open manholes were the only source of this garbage infested series of corridors. Each of the manhole had a rusty ladder beneath them, so that anyone who enters the sewers could go out of them. Anyone could get lost in this foul scented labyrinth made out of filth-filled pipes.

One of the pipes intersected the path of a drain that leads to the unknown. The pipe itself lead to a surprisingly clean wall. It seemed like somebody actually took time to rub all the trash on it. Suddenly echoing screaming of Bowser could be heard from that pipe. Due to velocity he was launched out of the pipe, crashing directly into that wall. The wall was left will a deep mark of Bowser's entire body on it with few cracks aside. Not much time has passed and Bowser already fell of the wall and hit the floor hard. He quickly got up and looked around the place.

"WHAT IS THIS PLACE? IT'S DARK AND….OH CRUD!..." he said as he covered his nostrils with his hand.

"….it also STINKS!" he added to his own comment.

He walked on the sidewalk of the tunnel, looking at what sewers offered him in disgust. Bowser was also covering his nose all the time due the ghastly scent of sewerage. Bowser reached the right turn of the sidewalk as he saw something in the water. There were a dead goldfish, empty turtle shell and a can of soda slowly floating on the greenish liquid. Bowser just stared at it in shock.

"Well...I'll pretend I have never seen that." he said before he continued walking in his own direction. His stomps could be heard from anywhere in the sewers, despite that he walked quite silently for his standards. He had a scowl on his face due this place not living up to his grandiose expectations.

"How am I supposed to get an army in a such place like THIS? Nobody even lives here!" he thought out loud. He continued walking as he encountered rats on the other sidewalk. Brown, dirty rodents quickly fled away at the sight of the stomping Bowser. He looked at them squeaking away, both disgruntled and disappointed at the same time.

"What can you even do with the army of RATS? NOTHING I SAY!" Bowser talked to himself again. He uncovered his nose so he could inhale some air, but he quickly put the palm on his nose back. He coughed just enough that he didn't spit fire.

Suddenly slightly loud footsteps could be heard. Bowser stopped as he looked at the both sides, searching for the source of the echo. The footsteps were getting louder and louder.

"WHO IS IT? WHO'S MAKING THIS NOISE?!" asked Bowser in panic as he put up his fists up. A silhouette of a man in the hat appeared in the lit area of sewers. It appeared that he hold a gun in his hand. When Bowser saw the shadow of the gun, he clutched his fists and prepared the fighting stance. The silhouette was getting bigger as the unknown man approached further. At this point Bowser was imitating a professional boxer, performing various rolls of punches in the thin air. The shadowy person stepped out of the corner. The man had a navy blue tuxedo and stylish silk trousers of the same color. Underneath the tuxedo he had a plain white shirt with black buttons. He also wore a black tie. On his head there was a navy blue fedora that he wore it for some reason. He hold a quite large silver revolver with the black handle in his left hand. The man had a plain white, expressionless mask on his face. The masked man approached Bowser slowly. Bowser still had his fists up in the air, prepared for the combat. The man put his fancy revolver in his left pocket. Both of them stared at each other while not making a single movement. The man looked around for a bit.

"Well then….that's not somethin' you see everyday." said the man to himself. He stepped closer to Bowser, but still far enough so that Bowser's arms could not reach him.

"Smells good, doesn't it?" he said to the combat ready turtle as he was his old friend.

WHO ARE YOU AND HOW DARE YOU IMPLY THAT THIS PLACE SMELLS GOOD?!" shouted Bowser at the man.

"….Oh this is gonna be a fun individual…." sighed the masked man as he put his palm on his mask in disbelief.

"I STILL HAVEN'T GOT MY QUESTIONS ANSWERED, YOU MASKED FANCY PANTS!" shouted Bowser once again.

"Why don't you introduce yourself first because I have no idea what the hell am I lookin' at?" groaned the man in the tuxedo.

Bowser put his hand on his chest like he was just shot in the heart. He said: "What are you looking at, you say? I'll tell you what are you looking at!".

Bowser dramatically raised his arm up as he was preparing for his speech. Then he continued: "You are looking at none other than ME, THE EMPEROR OF EVIL, THE PROFESSIONAL KIDNAPPER, THE SCOURGE OF MUSHROOM KINGDOM AND THE SWOON MASTER, REGENT OF ROMANCE, BOWSER! I AM THE MIGHTY RULER OF MY OWN KINGDOM, WHERE I LEAD MY OWN INCOMPE…..I MEAN FRIGHTENING ARMY! And let me tell you this! There is no other person that's greater than ME!"

The man just stared at him in utter bafflement. He then looked at the floor for a bit, thinking about what will he say to Bowser.

"Half of what you just said was comprehensible." said the masked man.

"Huh? I thought I was loud and clear! Do I need to explain it again!?" said Bowser as he angrily glared at the man.

"Look, I get the picture. Your name is Bowser and you're from some kingdom of mushrooms. No need for further explanations. I'm a busy man so I gonna make this quick." said the man very calmly as he grabbed his revolver, just so he could spin it on his index finger.

"Busy with WHAT?! Spinning that thing on your finger?" asked Bowser.

"Nothin' for you to care about. Anyway, I go with the name of…..George." said the masked man while doing a gesture similar to shrugging.

"...That's it?" asked Bowser, once again slightly being underwhelmed by his expectations.

"Yes, that's it. I have no time for the kitschy nicknames." said George bluntly as he put his revolver back in his pocket once again. Bowser frowned as he heard that.

"Follow me if you even wanna survive here." requested George. Bowser willingly, but not very happily followed George.

"...What a killjoy..." thought Bowser to himself, being disgruntled again.

George and Bowser were now walking towards the unknown destination as the measly rats ran away from the sight of them. The repulsive water accompanied the rustic sidewalks. Bowser was looking around the tunnel with an utter disgust while George hasn't even flinched about the things happening near them. There was a lot of trash floating on the water.

"Man, how do you even get used to a such a DISGUSTING place as this?! Yuck!" asked Bowser as they were currently walking.

"Simple. You just do after some time." shrugged off George.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU JUST DO?! WHAT KIND OF ANSWER IS THAT?!" shouted Bowser as he glared at George.

"Enough to be considered a valid answer." bluntly said George as Bowser glared at him even more but he couldn't come up with anything else.

"You are being cheeky with me, aren't you?" said Bowser as he lifted his index finger, indicating that he might beat up George.

George just ignore Bowser's threat. After minutes of snooping around the sewer, they have finally stopped at some corner with a rusty, rustic door on it. George seized in his right pocket and found a rather antique looking key ring with five keys on it. He used one of the keys to open the door. Bowser looked at what was George doing with no particular interest, but it piqued once he revealed what was inside that room.

The room had a big gramophone inside it. The left wall was plastered with vinyl records of various jazz, blues and swing musicians. The gramophone near the left wall was playing a smooth melody of swing. The walls themselves were unusually devoid of any mold and rust. There was also a shelf on the right wall. Shelf was full of perfumes. Under the shelf there were wire hangers, all of them had the same navy blue suits that George was wearing. For some reason there was a wardrobe opposite the door, but it didn't had suits inside them. A Thompson submachine gun was lying right next to the gramophone, possibly loaded.

"If you lay a finger on anythin' here, I'll shoot you and throw your corpse in the water." warned George, pointing his gun at Bowser's face.

"Shoot me? Now that is just RUDE! I mean I just come here and you already want to get rid of me?" said Bowser, outraged by George's threat and trying to push away his gun.

"….Didn't you heard "If" in my statement?" glanced George at Bowser, being a bit baffled by his reaction. He put his revolver back in his pocket.

"STILL! Anyway there's nothing really THAT fascinating here…..." said Bowser. George glared at him for quite some time and tried to reach for his revolver once again before restraining himself to do it.

"….except that…..whatever that THING is over there. It looks like some kind of…..weapon." said Bowser as he pointed at the SMG.

"...Tommy?" asked George, also looking at the gun.

"WHAT?! What do you mean by that his name is Tommy? WHY IS IT CALLED TOMMY?!" shouted Bowser once again, exhausting George more and more.

"…..Do I have to explain everythin' to you? I mean you have your own eyes, damn it." groaned George but at the same time not being angered by Bowser's words.

"Considering that I JUST ARRIVED HERE, knowing absolutely NOTHING about this world and what things is this world gonna throw at me, YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD! NOW EXPLAIN ME WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS "TOMMY" CONTRAPTION!" said Bowser as he vigorously pointed at the Thompson again. George looked at the Bowser and put his palm on his face in total embarrassment. He knew that he couldn't insist on his stance because of the bombastic turtle man.

"Fine," said George, slightly hesitant, "I'll explain it to you. I normally wouldn't do this under normal circumstances, but,' with a pause, George took a good hard look at Bowser, and continued, "You're not normal circumstances. You're mental."

George walked up to the Tommy gun and picked it up. He cleaned the dust off of it. He walked closer towards Bowser, so that he could show him the gun in detail. Bowser looked at the gun as he was scratching his chin, showing some kind of interest. Bowser also raised his thick, orange eyebrows.

"This is what I call "Tommy gun". After displayin' your overly zealous interest of the origin of such nickname, I feel like I should mention that's it's actual name is Thompson submachine gun. It owes a lot of other nicknames but I stick to the classic one. It used to be a sight of terror in the city back in my day..." explained George before he got interrupted by Bowser.

"….What do you mean by "back in my day"? Are you saying that…..you're old? YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE A BEARD!" asked Bowser as he pointed at George, suspecting him of something. George just stared at him before he looked at his gun again.

"Come to think of it I have not seen anything resembling a skin on him. It could be that he's just dressed so ridiculously." Bowser thought to himself.

"...So in the drum magazine there are around 100 rounds of .45 ACP cartridges, which fire with the velocity of the 935 feet per second. It shoots 1500 rounds per minute, enough to leave a man ridden with bullet holes. For such a fire rate it is surprisingly accurate for a submachine gun, which makes it even more favorable. It has been used in various confli..." George continued explaining before he got interrupted again.

"BAH! THOSE COMPLICATED WORDS! IT MAKES MY BRAIN HURT!" screamed Bowser as he shook his head with the help of his hands.

"Bloody hell, do I have to go full layman on you?" silently groaned George as he put his hat all over his mask in utter shame before putting it back on his head. Bowser looked at him with a confused look on his face.

"Look...This is a Thompson gun or Tommy whatever you wanna call it. It fires many bullets at the very high speed accurately. Bullets are kept in the barrel. It is also a well liked gun because it gets its job done. Capisce?" said George calmly but frustration could be heard from his voice. He was also shaking the gun for a bit.

"...YEAH! I think I get it! It's a gun that shoots very fast and that it looks weird!" said Bowser as he pointed his index finger to the ceiling.

"Bravo, you get it." said George in a complete deadpan tone. He put his gun next to the gramophone, where it was before.

"...Although I do have few more questions…." said Bowser.

"What?" asked George.

"In your weapon thingamajig talk you mentioned some kind of city, haven't you?" asked Bowser.

George was silent for some time. He didn't even move an inch. Bowser was just about to shout at him when George finally opened his mouth:

"Did you really believe that entire world is just this one specific sewer?"

Bowser's eyes have opened and his irises have shrunk at the realization. He walked near the water and stared at his murky reflection for some time. He took a deep breath.

"Great, now I feel stupid." said Bowser as he continued looking at his reflection.

"Under normal circumstances, I would called you an idiot, but given that you're completely out of this world in both literal and figurative sense, I shall give you guidance to the outer world. Do not overly rely on me though." said George, deciding to lend Bowser a hand. Bowser gladly took George's offer and grinned.

"GOOD! Now tell me what city were you talking about!" requested Bowser.

George looked up to the ceiling and sighed. He shook his head slowly and put his arms on his hips.

"You're….under the New York City." said George dramatically, lifting his arms like he was some kind of poet.

"WHAT?! NEW YORK CITY?! What happened to the old York!?" asked Bowser as he jumped back a little. It was not exactly clear to him what was George talking about.

"The city that never sleeps….." murmured George as he was day dreaming before snapping out of it. He then said: "Oh, York is far away from the New York City, so it shouldn't be your concern.".

"I MUST SEE IT IMMEDIATELY!" said Bowser as he tried to bum rush away from George's room, but George quickly appeared in front of Bowser and stopped him.

"Hold it, wiseguy. You ain't goin' like that in the public of New York." said George.

Bowser stomped in the fit of anger as he shouted: "WHAT'S THE PROBLEM NOW?! CAN'T YOU JUST BE SATISFIED FOR ONCE?!".

"Look, if you go like this you'll either get ridiculed, beat up by gangs or cops or both at the same time. Do you wanna that?" explained George, taking a deep breath.

Bowser has calmed down after hearing George's words. He pointed at him and said: "I'll take your word for it, since you know about this world, right?".

"I'll get you a some sort of disguise. You'll wait here." commanded George.

Bowser grumpily sat down next to the rusty door and crossed his arms. George walked in his room and picked one of his vinyls from the wall. He put the vinyl on the turntable of the gramophone and set the tone arm on the vinyl. It played one of the soothing tracks of jazz. The vinyl itself had so many songs on it that anyone could listen it for hours. Just as George set the music for Bowser, he almost tripped over his Thompson. He got his balance back quickly and continued where he was going: to the city itself.

"Ciao, Bowser." said George as he went on his journey. He has disappeared from Bowser's vision.

"You better be quick!" warned Bowser, juggling his finger towards the direction George went.

Bowser was sitting alone next to the door, staring at the other side. He sniffed the air and noticed something.

"Hey, it doesn't smell that much anymore…...maybe that George chump was RIGHT all along." he said as he stopped covering his chunky nose. "And the music is actually good too! That chump also has a decent taste in music too!"

"….but could he AT LEAST be quick enough?" he sighed as he continued staring at the wall.

After some time has passed, Bowser started observing the other side of the sidewalk. He noticed some rats crawling on it.

"One….two….two rats..." he pointed at them while nearly falling asleep at it. He suddenly regained his energy and stood up.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I'M DOING THIS! HOW COULD I, GREAT KING BOWSER, GO FROM CONQUERING TO COUNTING THOSE PESKY RATS!" he roared as he stomped with his foot, scaring the rats away from him. He growled as he sat down.

Even more time has passed as Bowser became even more impatient. This time he was walking in circles, tapping with his foot. However he has not said anything. He was growling in frustration.

Just minutes after this Bowser has finally snapped. His face was bloody red as steam came out of his nose. His eye was twitching rapidly. He stomped with his foot hard as he shouted for hundredth time: "WHAT'S TAKING HIM SO LONG!? COULDN'T HE JUST BE QUICKER WITH THIS?! ONCE HE RETURNS I'M GONNA-".

"I can hear you from here, you know…." echoed a familiar voice through the sewerage. Bowser shut his mouth and looked at the right side. George emerged from the shadowy tunnel, holding an enormous suit and a hat similar to his, but only brown instead. He threw the hat like a frisbee. The hat successfully landed on Bowser's head without him even noticing.

"Phew, I've got lucky that I've got this jacket in such quick time." said George.

"QUICK!? YOU CALL THIS QUICK?!" roared Bowser at George, desiring to strangle him.

"Well, it's been only one hour. In a city like this it could take an entire day to get anything." calmly explained George. He cleaned of his hat for a moment.

"One…..hour? ONE HOUR?! OOOOOONEEEEE HOOOOOUUUUUUR?! Then why did it feel like an ETERNITY?!" asked the startled Bowser. He jumped backwards a bit.

"Let's skip the trivial stuff and get to the real deal, capisce? Anyway, try this suit to see if it fits." said George as he offered the giant suit to Bowser.

"….Are people THIS big in this New York City?" asked Bowser as he looked quite worrisome at the suit.

"Yeah, you'll find a guy like this." answered George.

Bowser put on the offered suit on his body. The suit itself fit him quite well, although sleeves were sort of over-sized for him and the collar was comically large. It was big enough to cover most of Bowser's face. He walked to the water again to see his reflection.

"Woah, I look fancy! I feel like a true mobster right now!" mused Bowser as he made poses and flexed his muscles to boast about his appearance.

"I'll decide whenever you're a made man or not." said George bluntly.

"GREAT! Is it now time to go to this city already?" asked Bowser, trying to rush to his wanted destination as soon as possible.

"Do you need anythin' else before we proceed?" asked George before they went to their journey.

"Not at all!" said Bowser, thrilling with excitement.

"Then we go." said George.

Bowser and George walked away from the rusty door as they finally began their journey. They didn't go much farther from the door as they saw the ladder that lead to a closed manhole. The ladder itself was filled with rust and it looked like it could barely hold a very lightweight person. Bowser, without any hesitation, jumped on the ladder and started slowly climbing it. The ladder somehow hold off Bowser without any significant problems. George was looking at the Bowser while he was approaching the manhole.

"NEW YORK CITY! PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE RECKONING THAT IS BOWSER!" boasted Bowser as he raised his fist up to the ceiling. He removed the manhole cover by slightly lifting it and pushing it aside. He tried jumping directly through the manhole cover, but unfortunately for him he hit the underside of the taxi car. The car jumped a little due to the impact of the turtleman's head. The horns on his head penetrated the middle of the underside.

"Huh?! What was that?! Did the engine screw up once again?" panicked the taxi driver. The other drivers and the passenger of the taxi glanced at him like he was responsible for something.

"I knew I shouldn't have gone to that car repairing service. Fucking frauds." murmured the taxi driver before focusing on his objective.

After the impact Bowser fell from the ladder like a stone and hit the floor hard.

"OUCH!" yelped Bowser as he gave himself a pat on the head. George just walked towards him and shook his head.

"It always happens to rookies, so don't think you're first one to experience this." said George.

"Did this ever happen to you?" Bowser questioned George's statement.

"No." bluntly answered George.

"Hmmmpf…." quietly groaned Bowser at George.

They walked away from this manhole to search another one that would lead to a better location. It didn't take long that they found another one.

Bowser looked at the manhole with suspicion. George was just whistling around and standing still.

"Hmmm….are you sure that I won't hit my head again?" asked Bowser.

"Maybe." shrugged off George.

"….Do you EVEN KNOW where are we going?" said Bowser as he was done with George's attitude.

"Yes, I know every corner of this city. Stop askin' me about stuff like that." said George, shutting off Bowser once again.

"One more thing. Don't interfere with anyone's business. That's your only job for now." warned George before Bowser proceeded to climb the ladder.

Bowser looked at the ceiling again and climbed the ladder. Once he reached the top, he slowly moved away the manhole cover. He squeezed through the narrow manhole, but somehow he reached his destination. George quickly followed him, but unlike Bowser, he didn't have any problems going through the manhole.

"Well, here we are." said George.

"…..Woooaaaah." gasped Bowser, finally seeing New York.

Bowser and George stood on the sidewalk of the road filled with cars in lines, beeping all the way through. Multiple flats of various sizes accompanied the roads with an occasional skyscraper standing out from a distance. A view of the colossal bridge could be seen from their standing point. On the other side of the standing point a huge amount of skyscrapers could been seen. Every single parking place near any building has been taken by someone's car. It seemed like there was no end to this city.

"..It...is...so….so…..GIANT! I haven't seen such a HUMONGOUS city like this before!" said Bowser as his breath was taken away from the sight of the city

"And to think of it that it was much smaller in my day….barely any cars on the road..." daydreamed George once again.

"Are you being nostalgic for this city AGAIN?!" groaned Bowser at him. George snapped out of his thoughts and fixed his hat.

"...So where are we going now?" asked Bowser.

George looked to the both sides of the sidewalk and thought about what path should he pick. Then he said: "This way."

Both of them went to the right, walking along the sidewalk while breaking through masses of people. People avoided them due them smelling like urinated toilet water. Bowser was enjoying the view of the city while George was staring forward. Suddenly George dragged Bowser into the nearest and safest alleyway.

"Oh, forgot about somethin'." said George as he whipped out a perfume out of his pocket. He sprayed the perfume all over himself and Bowser. Now they no longer smelled like urine, but instead they smelled like a mixture of strawberry and peach. Bowser took a deep breath as he smelled the scent of the perfume.

"Ahh...finally something that smells good!" complimented Bowser. After being done spraying themselves they continued on their journey.

The journey consisted of aimlessly wandering around the streets and avenues and not doing much. Bowser was once again looking at the buildings as the cars passed by, honking all the way through. He was thinking how would New York look under his rule. People were still avoiding them despite both of them not smelling awful anymore.

"What's the deal with people now!? We don't even smell THAT BAD!" complained Bowser.

"That's just your typical day for citizen. Avoidin' others while mindin' their own business. Now let's do the same, shall we?" shrugged off George. They continued the exact same thing as they did before: wandering aimlessly around.

Suddenly something has struck Bowser as their journey took a pause. Bowser's stomach growled as if it desired something. George glanced at him as he was weirded out.

"BAH! I DESIRE SOMETHING TO EAT!" shouted Bowser as he stomped with his foot.

He looked around the place. Luckily for him he found a small pizzeria just right next to him. A pizza delivered stepped right out of the pizzeria itself. He was holding six boxes of pizza. Bowser's hunger and desire to snatch the pizzas intensified. He was attempting to sneak behind the deliverer but poked his back and said:

"Don't.".

Bowser stopped this time but his desire was growing stronger and stronger. However his resistance quickly fell off due him succumbing to his hunger. He once again tried to sneak behind the deliverer once again but George stopped him, repeating his words once again:

"Don't".

Bowser also stopped again, but his desire overwhelmed him once again. Not even George could stop him now. He sneaked behind the pizza boy and poked him on his back. The pizza deliverer turned towards Bowser and being surprised at the size of the "person" who poked him.

"Yeah?" asked the pizza deliverer, not knowing what will happen to him next.

Bowser snatched all of the boxes in one swipe with one hand and and punched the pizza deliverer in the stomach, sending him across the street before crashing in the watch store. His impact broke the glass wall of the stole and potentially some of his bones. The public panicked at that event, running all across the street.

"W-W-WHAT?! WHY IS EVERYONE RUNNING AWAY NOW?!" screamed Bowser at the crowd.

"You idiot." sighed George as he covered his mask with his hand.

Suddenly an African American middle aged man ran near them and said to the public:

"Woah! He stole that guy's pizza!"

Just after he said that, the sound of sirens engulfed the whole street. George looked at the source of sound in dismay.

"The cops..." whispered George.

"THE COPS?! WHAT TO DO NOW, GEORGE?!" panicked Bowser as he was shaking his pizza boxes.

George said no word as he started sprinting away from the incoming policemen. Bowser, despite holding six pizzas in his arms, caught up to George, even outrunning him for a bit. George was startled for a short amount of time because of Bowser's velocity, but he regained his composure quickly. After running for quite amount of time, George stopped at the black, vintage but clean looking Jaguar Mark 1 sedan. He brought up his keys and looked for the right one. It was the golden key that could unlock the car. He opened the car's door and starting pushingBowser inside of it, but due to Bowser's size it took rather long to get him inside.

"C'mon, get inside already and don't destroy any equipment in it. I've got it from the black market. This is where all of my money flourished…..again." complained George as he was ramming in Bowser, just so he could get inside the Jaguar.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT THE CAR IS SO SMALL! YOU COULD GET AT LEAST A BIGGER ONE!" shouted Bowser while he was nearly in the car, but still stuck.

By the time George actually managed to get Bowser inside the car, the police has arrived on the scene with their sirens blasting through the street. George jumped inside the car and started up the engine. They drove off as quickly as possible, but the police already saw them trying to escape.

Jaguar Mark 1 was driving at the high speeds while barely avoiding other cars to the point some of them receives some slight scratches. Three police cars were following just right behind them.

They were driving closer to the intersection with even more cars in front of them, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. However they had no such time for inconveniences like this, so they drove right between cars in the line.

One of the cars was that taxi. Just like the others it was standing in the line. The driver was pressing on the horn due sheer frustration.

"C'MON MOVE ALREADY!" screamed the driver as he was slamming his fist on the handle. Suddenly the taxi got slightly bumped by the ever accelerating George's car. The driver exploded in anger as he smashed his fists on the handle, possibly damaging it.

"LOOK WHERE YA DRIVIN', YA FOOLS!" screamed taxi driver at them just before one of the police cars accidentally crashed in him, causing a domino effect of crashes.

George opened up the window before they turned to the right direction of the crossroad. He pulled out his silver revolver out of his pocket. Just as they turned right, he shot at the police car that was attempting to ambush them on the other side. The bullet penetrated the window and hit the policeman in the lungs, mortally wounding him. Bowser gave him a weirded out look.

"So what now?" asked Bowser.

"Drive around until they get tired. It usually worked whenever I did that." said George as he blew off the tip of his revolver.

"….THAT'S NONSENSE! WHY WOULD YOU BE DRIVING AROUND IN THE CIRCLES ENDLESSLY?! IT'S LIKE A WILD GOOSE CHASE BUT WE ARE THE GOOSE!" shouted Bowser

"...Oh yeah forgot to put in equation that I was once heavily armed with my associates on my side...but what's your idea then?" said George in a kinda condescending tone.

"….GETTING OUT OF THIS CITY, THAT'S WHAT!" said Bowser.

Something has dawned upon George. Something that he thought he would never do.

"….Leaving New York City? But..." murmured George as he covered his mouth with his hand.

"YES! YOU HAVE TO LEAVE IT! LOOK, I'VE HAD TO LEAVE MY OWN KINGDOM TOO….not that I had any other choices...DO YOU REALLY WANNA JUST LIVE IN AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF CONSTANT FAILURE!? IT IS TIME TO MOVE OUT!" said Bowser.

"….For once you are right..." said George as he picked up the old looking phone that he had secretly inside the car.

"Wait, you have your own henchmen? NICE!" said Bowser as he pumped up his fist.

"Don't get too excited about them." warned George.

"Hmpf. Let me guess…..They're incompetent fools who always screw up your plans that you have been working on for a long time and make you look like the dumbest chump on the planet?" claimed Bowser.

"Oh please…."incompetent" is too kind of a word to describe them." said George as he typed on the phone.

"Whelp...there go my hopes." grumbled Bowser grumpily.

It rang for a bit before he managed to get the call.

"Hello? So where are you two?….So we meet each other at…..Capisco." talked George to the unknown caller before putting the phone down.

"We're gonna go to the port. We got a ship reserved." commanded George.

Bowser gave a thumbs up in understatement. They were still evading police cars from before. This time four of them followed. George was shooting from the left window. One of the bullets hit one of the police car's left tire, causing the car to severely decrease speed. Other police cars were desperately avoiding the bullets.

After some time of the chase they have finally arrived to the coast. Unlike the other places this part of the city was not as crowded. On the other side of the parking lot there was a port filled with ships of many kind. They parked their car near the rusty but quite large fishing boat with cranes standing from it. However the police has already caught up with them. George and Bowser stepped out of the car and walked towards the boat, but Bowser has stopped and looked towards the policemen.

"Hey, what are you doin' ?" asked George, being concerned about Bowser screwing up the plans.

"GWAHAHAHAR! Don't worry, George. I got this. I'm gonna show here who's the REAL TOUGH GUY! " he reassured as he stepped closely to the police cars. Policemen have stepped out of their vehicles with guns pointing at Bowser.

"FREEZE!" shouted one of the policemen.

Bowser cracked his knuckles right in front of them. He took a deep breath and spat out a small fireball at one of the police cars, engulfing it in the flames. Some of the policemen were set one fire because of it and they all panicked in terror.

"BWAHAHAHAHA! SEE YA LATER, CHUMPS!" laughed Bowser maniacally as he lifted Jaguar Mark 1 and jumped right on the ship, causing it to shake a bit. George stared at Bowser in total silence, being stunned by his actions. He put the car on the deck without any serious injuries. After both of them removing the ropes that were keeping the ship in the place, they have sailed off away from the mainland.

After some time they have distanced from the mainland so much that the only things visible are the highest of skyscrapers and Statue of Liberty, but they weren't done with the nuisances yet. Some kind of vehicle followed them just when they thought they escaped.

"BAH! WHO'S BOTHERING US NOW!?" shouted Bowser.

It was a small red and white boat that was following the big rusty ship. It was driving right next to them but just few meters behind.

"Coast Guard? Never thought I would have a problem with them." said George.

Bowser walked near the Coast Guard and boat and tried to fend it off: "GO AWAY! SHOO! SHOO!"

The boat has not responded to Bowser's threats. In sheer frustration he spat some fireballs at them, intentionally missing them because he was just trying to scare the follower. The Coast Guard boat quickly sailed somewhere else, not wanting to risk it's life because of some turtle firing at it.

After some time both of them looked upon the skyline of New York City.

"Woah….even from afar….it still feels so big." commented Bowser.

George sighed in melancholy and stepped near the edge of the boat, looking at the New York possibly for the last time.

"Goodbye, New York….City that doesn't sleep….."


	3. Atlantic Cruise

The day has past since their escape from New York. Now they are traveling through the vast ocean with no sight of any land whatsoever. The miniature waves were gently hitting the hull. George was standing near the the edge of the stern, looking at the supposed direction where New York was.

"Well congratulations. You confirmed yourself to be a made man. You got us into the trouble, but with luck and your strength you managed to save us. I'm mildly impressed." proclaimed George as he slowly clapped. He turned towards Bowser and saw him taking a huge bite on a whole pizza. Two of the boxes were already empty.

"It was still over a pizza after all." added George to his statement.

"But the pizza is good!" said Bowser while chewing that big chunk of pizza. George said nothing in return.

"Say...since you helped me out, I will allow you to take a slice of the pizza." said Bowser as he offered him some of his share.

"If there's one food that no one can refuse, it's pizza." complimented George as he took Bowser's offering without hesitation. Suddenly Bowser has stopped him from taking a bite of the slice.

"Wait! How will you eat it with the mask on?" asked Bowser.

"Well...I suppose I should reveal my little...secret." said George before he took off his mask, revealing his true identity.

"BAH! YOU WERE….A SKELETON?!" shouted Bowser, being surprised at rather angry looking skeletal face of George.

"Yes and I still don't know what you are." said George.

"Coooooooool!" shouted Bowser in with rather peculiar enthusiasm.

"I was not expectin' that kind of response." said George, questioning Bowser's response.

"Did you think I'm gonna scream in terror like a little coward? BWAHAHAHA! THAT'S RIDICULOUS! It's not like I've seen a skeleton for the first time, you see." explained Bowser.

"I guess so." shrugged off George.

"Anyway….so about those two henchmen you were talking about..."

"Oh, you wanna see them? Sure, but then again…." warned George.

"Disappointment, here I cooooooome…." sighed Bowser, preparing himself for a letdown.

Bowser and George walked up to the doors of the bridge and opened them. Unlike the ship itself the pilot house was rather small. The interior of the bridge only contained one weather monitor, one monitor for navigation, a ship's wheel reminiscent of the days of pirates and few other instruments. The place was fairly lit due windows being clean and big enough. The floor was rather rusty in some corners of the pilothouse. Two skeletons of not so much different sizes were standing over the ship's wheel. The taller one had a top hat on his head while the shorter one was hatless. Both of them were holding the handles of the helm. It seemed that they had a polite discussion about the ship.

"Boys, we got a new associate among us. His name is Bowser." said George to them, but they haven't responded to the introduction.

"Hey, I'M controlling the ship, you know!" said the shorter skeleton.

"No, you don't you halfwit. The Boss said I'M in charge of the ship!" barked the taller skeleton at the shorter skeleton.

"Oh, YOU were supposed to? Then explain your track record with driving!" screamed the shorter skeleton in defense.

"What are you even mumbling about? Go work at the monitors while I take the wheel!" said the taller skeleton as he tried to push away his partner in crime.

"Why don't YOU work at the monitors and I take the wheel!" I'm the one in charge of the vehicles!" shouted the shorter skeleton as he tried to tackle his co-worker.

"Pffft no. Sod off from that wheel, you sluggish simpleton. IT'S MINE NOW!" said the taller skeleton as he tried to fend away the shorter skeleton.

And so their bickering continued with no sign of ending soon as George and Bowser watched them.

"So….what would you say?" asked George as he turned his head towards him. Bowser's left eye was twitching as he was breathing heavily. He clenched his fists as if he was about to beat them up.

"Mind if I…..ahem….interfere in their chatter?" passive-aggressively asked Bowser.

"Sure, but good luck with that." answered George, allowing Bowser to do his thing.

Bowser slowly stomped towards the bickering duo without them even noticing. They still weren't aware of his presence even when he was standing menacingly right next to them. His monolithic shadow covered both of the bumbling skeletons. He tapped the taller skeleton's shoulder, but he got no response.

"...And that time when…." further argued the shorter skeleton right before a loud, booming voice interrupted him.

"GRRRROAAAH! WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP ALREADY?!" roared Bowser with his might, finally getting their attention.

"Who's this guy?" grumpily asked the shorter skeleton.

"Oh great, an obese turtle is gonna talk shit about us." groaned the taller skeleton.

"CAN'T YOU TWO BONEHEADS DO ANYTHING WITHOUT CONSTANTLY ARGUING ABOUT INSIGNIFICANT THINGS?!" grumbled Bowser.

"Oh, bonehead huh? Really original of you. It's not like we heard thi-" complained the taller skeleton before he was shut down by Bowser.

"ENOUGH! LISTEN, YOU TWO!" ordered Bowser at them. He forcibly pushed the taller skeleton to the helm and shouted: "YOU WILL TAKE CONTROL OF THE SHIP! DID YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?!"

The taller skeleton said nothing in return. Bowser then proceeded to put the shorter skeleton in his place by pushing him towards the monitors.

"AND YOU WILL TAKE CARE OF THE MONITORS! OH AND YOU TWO ARGUE AGAIN, I'LL THROW BOTH OF YOU IN THE SEA!? DID YOU TWO NUMSKULLS GET THAT?!" he angrily commanded them.

"Boss, what is this shit? You can't just let this reptilian douche to toss us around, can you?" complained the taller skeleton at George.

"Yeah! How could you!?" added the shorter skeleton.

"He contributed more in a span of days than both of you did in your entire career, so you two better follow his orders." said George, making them reconsider their lives.

"Damn, we got sassed by our boss. We can't recover from that." said the shorter skeleton. The taller skeleton only condescendingly looked at his fellow. Both of them decided that it would have been a good idea to follow Bowser's orders. By the time this was settled down, Bowser already went up to George.

"How did you even ENDURE them? I thought MY minions were inefficient, but THESE TWO….they're on a different level." asked Bowser, being astounded by George's henchmen.

"Eh, I just gave them the most insignificant jobs, so I wouldn't have to deal with them." answered George.

"But still! Couldn't you get some of your cooler henchmen instead?" asked Bowser once again.

"...I don't know, but I know I'll have to live with them…." said George.

"Urgh...What are their names anyway?" gruffed Bowser.

George covered his face with his hat for a moment before he pointed at the shorter skeleton.

"This is…..Scrongus." he said in embarrassment before he pointed at the taller skeleton. "And this is…..Krongus."

"...Those are the STUPIDEST names I have EVER HEARD! WHO GAVE THEM NAMES LIKE THAT?" shouted Bowser in bafflement. Scrongus and Krongus both looked at him

"You what?!" said Scrongus, being defensive about his name.

"Oh, someone named after a dog beer is saying that our names suck." hissed Krongus at Bowser.

"Eh, lets just leave em. It's not worth wasting time for this." said George before both of them went outside. The slight breeze blew up in their faces, making Bowser's hair wave for a bit. George hold his hat for a moment, so it wouldn't fly away from his head. They walked up to the fence of the left side of the ship, staring at the calm but empty ocean.

"So...should we make one of our goals that we find more and better henchmen?" sighed Bowser.

"Yeah, I had plans for it." answered George.

Both of them continued to do nothing but to stare at the sea. Nothing interesting was happening at all.

"...What now?" asked Bowser, being utterly bored at this point.

"I dunno. Maybe check the other sides of the ship." said George.

Bowser walked up towards the near edge of the stern to see if that side was more eventful, but much to his dismay it was not. He sighed in boredom and walked up to the right side of the ship. At first it seemed that the situation wasn't any different at all, but then he noticed something on the surface. It was a dorsal fin accompanied by the slightly larger caudal fin, cutting through the ripples of the ocean.

"YOU'VE GOTTA SEE THIS, GEORGE!" shouted Bowser. George slowly walked up to the Bowser's side

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked to see why has Bowser invited him.

"There's a SHARK over there!" exclaimed Bowser as he pointed at the moving fins.

"Not sure if that's a shark though. It's fins look a lil bit too small, I think." mumbled George just before the fins submerged.

"Then it's a small shark!…..Bah! This journey gets me excited over small things!" grumbled Bowser.

"Eh, whatever." said George, getting slightly bored of the view of the empty sea.

"Besides….a little shark like that can do NOTHING against us! It's not like it's gonna attack us anyway!" boasted Bowser as both of them turned around to get away from the right side of the ship.

Just as the turned away, a swordfish leaped out of the water and lunged itself right at them, but Bowser and George dodged the attack by quickly stepping aside in surprise. The swordfish slided on the deck before it jumped back in the ocean. George whipped out his revolver and aimed at the location where the fish was supposed to be, but he was too late as the fish has already disappeared from their sight.

"WHAT THE-" screamed Bowser in shock.

"You just had to say it, hadn't you….." groaned George.

Bowser followed the direction of the fish before he stopped behind the fence of the left side of the ship. He raised up his fists as he yelled: "BAH! HOW DARE YOU ATTACK US! I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU..."

The swordfish vertically launched itself at Bowser just before he finished his yelling, trying to impale him in the face with its long bill. He barely dodged the attack by moving his head back and the swordfish fell in the water once again. Bowser and George were looking all over the place to see from where it would attack next. The swordfish was circling around the ship, looking for the perfect spot to ambush them.

George was tightly holding his revolver and waiting for the incoming attack. Suddenly the swordfish jumped right in front of him and he aimed his gun directly in its face, but as the fish jumped it turned it's body around, slapping George's hand with it's tail. The slap was strong enough to make him drop his revolver and sending it at the corner of the pilothouse. George grudgingly glanced at the swordfish as he ran towards the revolver. Just before he reached his revolver, the swordfish launched itself once again and hit the revolver with it's body, making it launch towards the edge of the right side of the ship. Luckily Bowser has caught the revolver with his hand. He threw it to George, but the swordfish jumped again and slapped the revolver upwards. It tried to slap it horizontally but due the way it launched itself it could only slap vertically.

The revolver flew up high up above the ship. Bowser jumped on the roof of the bridge and then he leaped as high as he could towards the revolver. It was still out of his reach even when he was high up in the air. Suddenly the swordfish launched itself with the very high acceleration, reaching Bowser quite quickly. It tried to strike through Bowser's heart, but he grabbed the swordfish just as its bill touched Bowser's chest. Just as he grabbed it, the revolver started to descend. He let off his left hand from the swordfish and tried to grab the gun, but the swordfish was hindering him by swinging its bill around, trying to slash Bowser. It was also slippery, so Bowser had to hold it tightly in order that it doesn't escape.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT?!" commanded Bowser to the swordfish, but it only made the swordfish swing its bill even more. He turned the swordfish away from himself with his right hand. The swordfish retaliated by slapping with it's tail. Bowser managed to grab the revolver within time.

"GEORGE! CATCH THIS!" shouted Bowser towards George as he threw the revolver to George at the very high speed. He managed to catch revolver with his left hand and spin it with his index finger before putting it back in his pocket.

"Thanks, Bowser." said George.

Bowser was still stuck with the swordfish as they both were descending. He grabbed it with his left hand so that he can have the full grasp of the fish. He was keeping the fish away from his face so that it wouldn't slap his face with its tail.

"HOW WOULD LIKE THIS, CHUMP!" roared Bowser before slam dunking the swordfish back in the ocean. He landed just right behind the fence of the right side and made the entire ship tilt towards him, but the ship quickly stabilized its balance. His landing also made the car bounce for a However he didn't know that him slam dunking the swordfish only gave it the bigger speed.

"Phew….that was a close call." said George.

"I hope that we thought that STUPID FISH A LESSON!" boasted Bowser as both of them turned away.

Just as they thought they were done with the attacker, the swordfish leaped towards the bridge this time. It managed to enter the pilothouse by shattering the window with its bill.

"W-W-W-WHAT NOW?!" screamed Bowser in surprise.

Meanwhile Scrongus and Krongus immediately noticed the intruder interrupting their bickering. The swordfish was splashing on the floor to make itself seem vulnerable.

"THERE'S A GODDAMN FISH IN THE BRIDGE!" yelled Scrongus.

"LET'S WHACK THAT FOOL!" screamed Krongus.

Scrongus and Krongus ran towards the fish, ready to personally beat the crap out of it with their fists. Just as they reached it, the swordfish jumped towards Scrongus and slapped his face so hard that the sheer force of the slap sent him against the wall.

"YOU WHAT!?" angrily said Krongus as he tried to reach the swordfish by himself, only to be smacked by the swordfish just like Scrongus.

The swordfish bounced towards the ship's wheel and slapped it, making it spin to the right side. The entire ship started to drastically tilt towards the surface in correlation with the ship's wheel. It started to suffocate from the lack of water, so it broke another window and jumped back into water.

Meanwhile on the deck Bowser, George and all of the objects started to slide towards the sea as the angle of the ship was becoming steeper.

"You take the care of the stuff while I'll try to get our ship back to normal, Capisce?" ordered George just before he ran towards the entrance of the bridge.

"OF COURSE!" said Bowser as he slided down towards the Jaguar Mark 1 and grabbed it with it's might. Unfortunately for him all of the boxes of pizza fell right in the sea. One of the boxes opened by itself so the box and pizza fell separately in the sea.

"NO, MY PIZZAS!" shouted Bowser in agony as he could do nothing but watch pizzas float away.

Meanwhile George already entered the bridge and saw his henchmen lying on the floor. He ran up to the ship's wheel and started rotating it in the left direction. Scrongus and Krongus stood up and saw their boss behind the wheel.

"Lend me a hand, you two." calmly ordered George.

"I'll help!" proclaimed Krongus as Scrongus angrily looked at him.

"No, I'll help, you dingus!" argued Scrongus.

"Not now, idiots. Now move." groaned George at them and stopped their bickering at the same time.

"Man, I don't wanna be sassed by the boss again." both of them thought to themselves. They haven't hesitated to help their boss and grasped the wheel at the same time. All of them rotated the wheel with as much power as possible. Much to their surprise the swordfish attacked them from the higher side, breaking another window in the process. It flew just behind them, but it managed to let Scrongus and Krongus lose their grip and fall on the floor.

"Cunning for a fish, huh?" said George to himself as he further rotated the wheel. The ship slowly started to stabilize its balance. Scrongus and Krongus were attempting to stand up and help George, but due another round of the swordfish attack they kept falling on the floor. By this point only few windows remained untouched and the shrapnels were all over the place. After some time George finally managed to return the ship's balance, but not before the swordfish swooped in right where he was. He barely dodged the attack by lowering his back like a tango dancer. The ship tilted a little to the left, but it was stabilized. Scrongus and Krongus managed to stand up and took over their places as George left the bridge. He saw that Bowser successfully kept his car away from the water.

"Without a scratch!" boasted Bowser as he gave George a thumbs up. George walked up towards Bowser and also gave him a thumbs up.

"I've got a plan, Bowser." said George.

"Tell me!" said Bowser.

"You'll go to that corner." ordered George as he pointed at the exact corner. Bowser stepped up to that corner without a question.

"I'll wait here. I've got a special technique up in my sleeve. You'll do your job by the instinct." he continued explaining his plan.

"Wait….you've got a special technique AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ABOUT IT?!" shouted Bowser.

"You'll see." scoffed off George.

George was standing still as he was preparing for the attack while the swordfish was circling around the ship once again. Only sound that could be heard was the slight breeze. Within few minutes nothing happened. In the mean time Bowser was flexing his muscles in preparation.

"C'mon show yourself, aquatic bastard." George thought to himself.

Suddenly the swordfish launched itself once again at the George while he had his back turned against it. Just as the swordfish was close to impaling him through his spine, he performed a 180 degree spin and yelled:

"SKELETON BITCH SLAP!"

He slapped the swordfish right in the face with such fierce force that it was send right to Bowser. Some of the gills were slightly damaged because of the slap.

"SUPER BOWSER PUNCH!" yelled Bowser as he punched the swordfish right in the stomach. He sent it flying up in the sky because he punched it under a slight angle. As the swordfish flew up high it became nothing but a twinkle in the sky.

"THAT WILL TEACH IT!" yelled Bowser towards the twinkle in the sky.

"Whelp there's another thing I never thought I would experience." said George.

"SOMEBODY'S GONNA CLEAN UP THE FLOOR!" yelled Scrongus and Krongus as they started to argue who's actually gonna do it. Bowser and George ignored them this time.

"But my pizzas are gone…..what am I supposed to eat now?" asked Bowser in a slight despair.

"Learn how to fish. We're on a fishing boat for a reason." bluntly answered George. Bowser stared at him in a grumpy manner before he accepted the fact that he will have to hunt for food now. Both of them returned to the uneventful but calm lifestyle on a fishing boat in the middle of Atlantic Ocean.


	4. Balkan Prelude

Two weeks and five days have past since the incident with the swordfish. Only activities that the crewmen of the lonesome fishing ship did were fishing, bickering, sleeping, telling stories with each other and staring at the ocean. Somewhere between the 10th day and 12th day they crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, they reached the Mediterranean sea. Unlike the Atlantic Ocean it was exhaustingly hot and rather windy, but both of them had one thing in common: the journey of the both seas were largely uneventful. Then on the 19th day when they reached Adriatic sea, things seemed to change.

The sun gradually rose over the horizon in the morning as its light reflected on the crystal clear sea. Below the deck there was a supply room, filled with freshly caught fish of many kind. There were no such cases of rotting fish because they were eaten by the crew just quick enough. Bowser was sleeping and snoring there because he thought this was the only place on the ship where he could get some good rest. Scrongus and Krongus slept in the bridge while George was always up the entire night.

Two seagulls landed on the fence of the right side of the ship and started squarking. They were so loud with their shrill noises that it could be heard from any internal part of the ship. At first Bowser tried to ignore seagulls, but over the time he started to get more and more frustrated by them. At one point he awakened, revealing his red, tired eyes and snapped. He stood up and walked up to the ladder, climbing it so he could open the hatch that lead to the deck. Bowser managed to open the hatch without any problems and finally stepped on the deck.

"QUIET, YOU STUPID BIRDS! SHOOO!" shouted Bowser at the seagulls as they flew away from him due instinct, thus no longer disrupting the silence on the boat. Suddenly Scrongus and Krongus bursted out of the door of the bridge.

"What the hell, man?!" both of them said in the union.

"It was just some stupid birds, bothering me when I was sleeping. Now go back controlling the ship!" ordered Bowser. Scrongus and Krongus followed the order without the question and slammed the door shut, getting back to their positions.

George was standing near the fence of the right side of the ship, staring at the peaceful coast, accompanied by the groups of trees, some of them without leaves or branches at all and the rocky mountain range, displaying the typical karst landscape of this land. Bowser walked up to George and started doing the same thing.

"Hey, George." greeted Bowser.

"Yeah, what is it?" asked George.

"Nothing really. It's just so…..BORING around here. Can't something interesting happen without interfering in our business!?" said Bowser as he sighed in boredom.

"Oi, we got some land here. Perhaps we should land our ship there. It seems like nobody would bother us if we park it over there." advised George as he pointed at the untouched small beach.

"You know what? I'm sick of constantly cruising the sea all the time! Lets take a long break from the journey and do….whatever this place has to offer." said Bowser as he stomped determined towards the bridge, where Scrongus and Krongus resided. He opened the door with the sheer force and ordered them:

"YOU TWO! WE WILL NOW LAND THIS SHIP ON THE BEACH WITHOUT A QUESTION!"

Scrongus and Krongus looked at each other before Scrongus tried to verbally attack Bowser, but Krongus stopped him and instead attempted to negotiate with him.

"Only if our boss approves and you were supposed to say capisce after you give an order." said Krongus.

"But that's George's thing! Speaking of him…." mumbled Bowser before he stepped out of the bridge and yelled:

"GEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOORGEEEEEE!"

George did a motion similar to whenever someone rolls with their eyes and slowly walked up to the bridge, wanting to know for what was he needed.

"What..." he groaned loudly as he grumpily stared at them.

"Boss! Do you agree that we should land this ship despite the fact that we have not seen a port yet?" asked Krongus for permission while secretly hoping that his boss would disagree.

"I guess but as long as he manages to get the ship outta here." answered George, much to Krongus' dismay.

"You heard him! Now do as I said!" yelled Bowser at them. The henchmen duo both sighed in annoyance as they went back to their positions. Krongus grabbed the ship's wheel and rotated it towards the direction of the beach. The ship was steadily approaching the land with it's velocity decreasing. Once it reached its destination, it roughly went through the surface, making it tremble all the way. It abruptly stopped after a short amount of distance and slightly tilted to the right, but not so much as things would fall off of it. The crew stepped out of the bridge and observed the land. Bowser took a relaxed deep breath before smiling as he put both of his arms right above his legs.

"AHH, FINALLY SOME LAND TO CON...I mean land to explore! NO MORE OF THIS BORING SEA!" he shouted in excitement before he jumped off the ship. He landed on the beach and did a pose, but little did he know that the beach was not made out of sand, but instead out of pebbles of different sizes. It was way too late before he realized his mistake.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUCH!" he screamed as he felt agony in his feet due the stones. George also jumped off the ship in order to check upon Bowser. He did not feel any pain whatsoever because he wore some fancy looking shoes unlike his companion, who was barefoot. Only thing he did was to help Bowser advance further towards the land.

"OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW!" he yelped as he was prancing on the pebbles like an elderly man on a pogo stick while George was just calmly walking with his hands in the pockets, looking at the beach floor. Bowser only stopped hopping in pain after both of them crossed the pebble beach and stepped on the land without any major obstacles like pebbles.

"TAKE THAT, YOU BRAINLESS STONES!" he roared in frustration as he kicked the pebbles, only to get them stuck between his toes. He was stuck dumbfounded before he decided to remove every single pebble that was in between his toes.

"Brilliant idea here, Bows." scoffed George as he only watched Bowser with sheer perplexity. Bowser glanced at him with displeasure as he removed the final pebble that was between his toes.

"What?! It's not MY fault that the beach itself is so AWFUL and I don't even like ordinary beaches! Why couldn't they afford sand instead of these….stones? Sure it gets everywhere and it's irritating and so on and so on…..BUT AT THE VERY LEAST YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE YOU'RE WALKING ON SPIKES!" vented Bowser at George.

"And your solution to this is?" asked George in a rather derisive way.

"I'LL CRUSH EVERY PEBBLE! EVERY SINGLE ONE!..or at the very least once I conquer this land I'll make sure that we get a lot of sand so we can finally supplant this menace to our feet." boastfully answered Bowser.

"I don't know how will you exactly mess with environment but sure." responded George to his answer, doubting the practicality of his plan.

"I'll find a way!…..SOMEHOW..." declared Bowser. Before both of them departed to a journey across the unknown land, Scrongus and Krongus, still being on the deck, ran up to the fence and halted them from going away.

"Boss! What shall we do? Should we stay on a ship?" Scrongus asked.

"Yes, stay on the ship just in case someone tries to steal it from us. However if someone gets a funny idea and does try to steal it, make sure to whack that snitch." ordered George to them.

"And if you fail this task….." added Bowser while cracking his fists and staring menacingly at them. His threat managed to send shivers down their spine, so they didn't try to argue against their boss and Bowser and started guarding the ship like two meerkats on the watch.

"Goodbye then." said George as he and Bowser wandered away from the ship. They walked up the not so steep slope until they stopped at the narrow paved path, which was spread across the coast. Beyond the path there was slightly worn out grass, waving gently due the breeze. It was also supported by the age worn parts of what was once a complete fence, protecting anyone from falling off the more vertical slopes. Unlike the fence, the path was rather clean with just few cracks on it. Both of them observed each side of the paved path.

"Hmpf. I don't know which way should we go. What would say, George?" asked Bowser.

In response George searched through his pockets on the suit and found a single bronze cent.

"And what are we supposed to do with a….single….COIN?!" shouted Bowser at George.

"Here's a trick. Head and we go the left way. Tails and we go the right way. Capisce?" George explain his plan towards Bowser.

"That's a rather weird way to decide but have it your own way. I don't REALLY care which way we go." grumbled Bowser.

"It's a classic way you know. With the coin flip I was also in charge who's gonna live or not."

"….Was this really that necessary to say?" asked Bowser, questioningly glancing at George for his statement.

"Who knows. It might be useful someday." replied George like it was nothing.

George flipped out his coin high in the air and waited for it to land. Bowser stared at the coin flying up in the air. Suddenly the coin briefly stopped in the air and started to descend back to the surface. It quickly fell on the floor and landed with the "Head" side of the coin being revealed.

"I guess we are going that way." mumbled George as both of them went to the aforementioned direction. They were only greeted by the slight breeze, which was blowing towards the sea and nothing resembling any sort of life form whatsoever.

Presumably 120 meters away from them there was a little food "stand" (in reality just a medium sized table covered in white cloth) with a barbecue grill next to it. A short but stout mustached man dressed like a chef was standing behind the table as he tapped on the table. He supported his head with his left arm as he gazed upon the surface of the table.

"Dovraga! Pa to je za poludit! Cijeli mjesec nije bilo kupaca. (Damn! That's crazy! It's been a month since I've had customers.) " grumbled the man before he sighed as he continued tapping on the table.

Bowser and George continued walking to their decided direction without any real goal. George had his hands inside his pockets while Bowser was stomping and observing the land like a vulture. The man noticed them from the distance and smiled, anticipating them to take a brief visit. When the duo were close enough to the stand, he started to wave at them, inviting them over.

"Hey, this chump is inviting us over. Should we visit him?" asked Bowser.

"You sure? He looks like a total fraud to me." answered George as he loaded his revolver with bullets.

"Slow it down, George! Now it's not the time for bullets! If he wants to fight us, I'll just throw him into the sea with MY OWN HANDS!" boasted Bowser as he flexed his muscles.

"Whatever you say." said George as he put his revolver back into his pocket. When the duo of a turtle and a skeleton came up to him, he started rambling in his own language.

"Dolazita sem! Ja sam Brane I ja vam čem predstaviti najjaču hranu na u Dalmaciji!" the man proudly introduced to them, only to receive weird looks from them due lack of understanding of his native language. Upon closer inspection at their appearances (mostly at Bowser's appearance), he slowly realized that these were no average "customers" that you would see every day.

"No...ja...vidva sta...zanimiva." (Well….yeah….you two are….interesting.) mumbled Brane as he kept staring at them while preparing to hide if any of them would attack him.

"….What did he say?" whispered Bowser to George about Brane's rambling.

"I don't know. Somethin' about Dalmatians I guess." said George to him. Brane heard their talk and quickly continued to talk like he's proud of something.

"Ah, so you two are English I see." he said while clearing some of the confusion from earlier. He then continued: "As I said before, I'm Brane and I shall introduce you to the most delicious food in Dalmatia!".

"...What is this "Dalmatia" thing you are bumbling about?" asked Bowser while scratching his head.

"Dalmatia? You ARE in Dalmatia!" revealed Brane to him, however Bowser kept scratching his head like he had lice inside his hair.

"Okay, so it wasn't about Dalmatians after all." said George while scratching his jaw.

"Ah, it was never about the dogs at all! I'm talking about this land! Isn't it beautiful?" chuckled Brane as he raised both of his hands up in the sky like he was praising some deity.

"….What's your problem?" asked Bowser while he stared at Brane with a confused and slightly concerned stare.

"Problem? I have no-actually yes I have one. One big problem with a couple of minor ones." sighed Brane.

"What is it then?" asked George disdainfully.

"Well..you see...my little food stand hasn't seen a single customer for a month! MONTH!" shouted Brane in anguish as he once again raised his arms up in the sky.

"Talk about low standards if this is allowed as food stand here. How PRIMITIVE!" scoffed Bowser to George. Brane frowned and looked at the floor for a moment because of massive turtle's statement.

"And why do you think it's like that?" asked George as he was threatening someone.

"Hey, don't be so harsh! It's not like my food is bad! It's just…." retaliated Brane just before his old grill collapsed by itself and breaking every single piece in the process. Bowser and George glanced at Brane with perplexity and slight amusement.

"Yeah…." sighed Brane.

"Why didn't you buy a new one?" asked George.

"Well, here's another problem." further explained Brane as he put 7 coins worthy of 1 Kuna each on the table. Bowser and George inspected the coins.

"Huh, I've never seen this kind of currency before." commented George as he grabbed his lower jaw, further inspecting them.

"And why is there A MARTEN on them?" asked Bowser as he pointed out the martens on the coins.

"Hahahaha! It's because they are called marten in my language, that's why!" laughed Brane as hard as he could.

"But why marten out of all animals? WHY THE MARTEN?!" shouted Bowser as he nearly slammed his fist on Brane's table.

"It's because during old times they used marten skins as units of value during trading." explained Brane. Bowser just briefly stood for a moment with his jaw dropped and shrunk pupils.

"…...Old times here were some screwed up times, weren't they?" said Bowser while still being surprised by the Brane's explanation.

"Indeed." George reinforced Bowser's statement.

"Oh, you have no idea. But that's not the main point. The main point is that I need a new grill and I ask you two gentlemen to be kind enough to get me a new grill."

"One thing though." said George as he raised his index finger.

"Yes?" asked Brane.

"Will we get paid for it?" demanded George as he seized in his pocket for his revolver just in case Brane refuses his demand.

"Of course! I'll do anything as long as I can serve food to people!" agreed Brane without hesitation.

"Well then. That will make the job much easier." said George while offering his hand to Brane. Both of them shook their hands in agreement. Bowser was just scratching his nose while observing their interaction.

"Oh I've forgot something that I should have asked in the first place! What are your names." asked Brane.

"George." simply said the skeleton gangster.

"And I'm Bowser, THE KING OF AWESOME, THE UNDISPUTED TYRANT OF MY OWN KINDGOM AND..." boasted the massive turtle man just before he was interrupted by his own fellow.

"And a dedicated fan of overly bloated nicknames." added George.

"HEY!" shouted Bowser at George for his comment.

"Ah nice! Now we must go! The grill awaits us!" Brane invited them to join him.

"And the money." said George just before both of them went along with Brane without any issues. Bowser secretly picked up a single Kuna coin and inspected it.

The trio now walked uphill towards the camp, which only had few tents placed presumably due pebble infested surface. The camp itself was surrounded by coniferous trees with squirrels climbing on them. There were also eurasian collared doves all over the place. On their way they approached the abandoned restaurant, which was just below a small supermarket and a bakery. Bowser, as soon as he got off his eyes on the coin, looked a the landscape.

"Wait….why are the trees like that on the beach? Where are the palm trees? Why are there SQUIRRELS ALL OVER THE PLACE? WHAT'S WITH DOVES? WHAT KIND OF BEACH IS THIS? Not only does it have stones instead of sand, it has MISPLACED PLANTS AND ANIMALS! That's not even all! Brane said that this land is called Dalmatia, but on this coin it states OTHERWISE!" Bowser thought to himself just before he poked Brane's shoulder.

"What do you need, Bows?" asked Brane with a slight itch of excitement.

"You've said that this land is called Dalmatia, but this coin says IT'S REPUBLIKA HRVATSKA!" angrily shouted Bowser as he pointed the letters on the Kuna coin.

"Pfft hahaha! I should have clarified! Dalmatia is just one of the regions of the Republic of Croatia! I should mention that Hrvatska is Croatia in my native language, so that there won't be further confusion." eagerly explained Brane.

"Since when did it became a country?" asked George.

"Ufff….less said the better, but let's move on, shall we?" shuddered Brane.

"Man….I really need to adapt to this world. It's so…..WEIRD." grumbled Bowser while scratching his head and looking at the floor.

"Bowser, I don't think neither of us have any right to question this world." pointed out George, which made Bowser reconsider his words.

"Hmpf….I guess you are right, BUT STILL THOUGH!" said Bowser. All of them aimlessly looked around the place without having a single idea of what to do.

"...What now?" asked Bowser and George together.

"I guess we should move on! It's nothing but an abandoned restaurant and supermarket with overly high prices!" said Brane as he tried to lead the duo somewhere else, but was stopped by Bowser's muscular arm.

"Did you say….restaurant?" said Bowser while he had an idea for Brane.

"Yeah and?" asked Brane while having no idea what Bowser was thinking about.

"BRANE! THIS COULD BE YOUR CHANCE TO STARDOM! You can become THE GREATEST CHEF EVER! All we need to do, aside from getting that pesky grill, is to make that restaurant shiny and all stuff and BAM! You'll be RICH!" boastfully explained Bowser to Brane. He received some kind of enlightenment inside of him thanks to Bowser's explanation.

"...BRILLIANT! HOW DIDN'T I THINK ABOUT IT BEFORE?!" yelled Brane as he raised his hands up in the sky.

"Huh, not a bad idea at all." complimented George.

"Of course, we might need some tools to fix it, but no worries about that! I know where to get them!" said Brane.

"….Then why didn't you get the grill?" asked George as he is about to lose more of his barely existent hope.

"Well….no one had it…." answered Brane. George shook his head and sighed in disbelief.

"Lets go then!" shouted Bowser as all of them walked away from the abandoned restaurant and supermarket.

"Of course, if Brane gets rich, it would all benefit me and my desire for domination!" Bowser thought to himself. Brane lead them towards some kind of lengthy motel building. There was an old, but not rusty white Zastava Koral (or Yugo) car parked near the motels.

"Oi, what's this disaster of a car?" asked George as he could barely look at the Yugo without wincing his skeletal face.

"That, my friend, is ZASTAVA YUGO!" said Brane as he pointed both of his arms towards his beloved car.

"More like Zastava You Go To The Scrapyard!" commented Bowser, which Brane laughed at it and George pretended like he could wipe the sweat of his forehead (or rather skull). Brane opened the door of his car and sat on the front site with a huge steering wheel. He invited them to enter his car, which George just silently sat on the second seat and put his palm on his face out of regret. However, Bowser crossed his arms and refused to take a single step towards the car. George glanced at him before he put his palm on his face again while Brane just looked at him weirdly.

"NO! I WON'T GET STUCK THROUGH THE DOORS AGAIN!" complained Bowser.

"Then just enter the trunk. It should be more spacious I think." suggested Brane.

"IT BETTER BE!" groaned Bowser before he opened the trunk. He squeezed through it without much issues and closed the trunk.

"Grill, here we come!" yelled Brane as he put one of his keys inside the ignition lock, starting up the damn thing. Yugo shook a little before they drove away from the motel, going down the hill. After going under the non-functional boom barrier, they drove uphill on the curvy road. Bowser was hitting both sides of the walls because of the curves with a big frown on his face. The car reached the roundabout and turned towards the left. After a long travel near the Velebit mountain range and the Dalmatian coastline, the trio of buffoons reached a small town called Makarska. They parked near the closest shop with something related to grills they found. The shop was located the opposite of the port filled with various boats, yachts, sail boats and even ferries.

"Okay, so here's the plan. Bows will get the grill while me and George will go for the paint. I'll also get the meat for us. Everything clear?" explained Brane his plan.

"Capisco." said George.

"I'll get the grill once I get out of this headache-inducing trunk!" grumbled Bowser while patting his head. Brane and George went out of the car and opened the trunk for him. Bowser squeezed himself out of the car and fell on the floor. He picked himself up and brushed off some of the dust on his shoulders. George gently closed the trunk after that.

"Ugh, these CARS! Can't this world have bigger cars than this?" groaned Bowser.

"Now it's not the time to complain about cars. We have to get the job done." scolded George.

"See ya soon, Bowser!" said Brane as he and his skeletal friend departed away from Bowser in the search of the paint and meat. Bowser walked towards the entrance of the shop. He looked through the closed automatic doors and spotted a large box, which contained the grill. The shop itself only had few snacks, drinks and magazines in stock. However, he also saw a camera in the corner, probably observing the whole place.

"Hmmm….I've gotta sneak in QUIETLY!" he thought to himself as he scratched his chin. He opened the doors with sheer force and started to approach the box by walking on his toes. He looked at the camera and saw that camera was not functional at all. He brushed of the sweat and snatched the box as quick as possible. Once again he stomped on his toes as he went out of the store. Afterwards he shut the door with the same amount of force he used when opening the door.

"HAH! No one will notice!" he shouted as he approached the car, opened the rear door of the Yugo and put the grill inside. After that he shut the door and walked to the trunk, where he squeezed inside the car. Just as he was inside the car, George and Brane returned with two buckets of paint in each of their hands. They were also carrying packets of some kind of Balkan meat and paint rollers on their buckets.

"Ah, you two are already done? Good job!" praised Bowser.

"Yah, it went surprisingly quick." said George.

"Next stop…..SERVING FOOD OF DIVINE TASTE!" yelled Brane as he lifted both of the buckets, then he and George opened the rear doors and put them in the same place as the grill. They closed them and entered the front doors with Brane taking the driver seat. As soon as he started the car, the police car appeared right from the corner.

"Not even a day in a foreign country and the cops are already behind us. Incredible." said George as he looked back to see the car.

"NOT THE COPS AGAIN! FLOOR IT, BRANE!" commanded Bowser as soon as he saw the cops.

"Wait!" shouted Brane. He slowly drove his Yugo away from the store and as soon as he disappeared from the policeman's sight, he stomped on the gas pedal and Yugo drove away like a running cheetah. Little did they know that the police car just stopped in front of the shop.

The Yugo has left the town of Makarska and has approached the curvy road above the coast. George looked backwards to see if the police car is even chasing them, but to his surprise, no one was behind them.

"Oi, the cop didn't even chase us. We can slow it down now and relax." advised George as he looked towards Brane. His pupils were shrunk to the minimum size possible and he was sweating like a madman.

"Brane, why aren't you answering me?" asked George.

Brane looked towards George, twitching and sweating all over the place. He could barely look into George's eye sockets.

"The brakes…...are not working."

"WHAT?!" yelled Bowser.

"Damn it!" groaned George as he slammed on the dashboard.

"Relax! I've got this!" said Brane as he got the grip on the steering wheel. He steered his Yugo through tight turns at the high velocity with each turn making Bowser's head hit something. The grill and paint buckets were barely standing in their place while the meat packages and paint rollers just kept rolling with each turn. After speeding through the turns on the coast, they reached the roundabout. With all his might, Brane steered so hard, it made Yugo drift. Sparks flew out of Yugo's tires, causing screeches which could be heard from the coast. Everyone and everything was pushed to the right side with fierce force, but nothing has broke or been spilled, however it gave Bowser a minor headache. They turned towards the road that lead them to the camp, but just before they drove downhill, the engine stopped working. The car started to roll down the hill like a boulder rolling down the mountain, but Brane steered it with all of the energy he had, making the car not fall off the road. Just before passing through the broken boom barrier, Brane made the Yugo spin so it would drastically lose momentum. This caused the car to stop after passing through the raised boom barrier. However, all fours of its wheels fell off and the exhaust pipe smashed on the ground. No one but a single Czech tourist, who was walking towards the beach, noticed the wreckage. He looked at his beer can after witnessing what just happened and walked off with a disturbed expression on his face.

"Props for you for bein' a decent driver." said George as he stepped out of the wreckage.

"My head…." murmured Bowser as he squeezed out of the trunk.

"Well, now we have everything. Work awaits us!" declared Brane as he stepped out of the car and picked up the meat packages and paint buckets. Later he took out the grill from the car with the help of George because Bowser was a bit doozy. They put the paint buckets and meat packages on the grill.

"Oi, Bows! You've gotta help me for a bit!" requested Brane.

Bowser snapped out of the dizziness and asked: "What?"

"Can you bring the car to the restaurant, please?" asked Brane.

"Only if that piece of junk gets dumped in a place it belongs: SCRAPYARD!" yelled Bowser.

"Yes, but after we get a new car." said Brane.

Bowser picked up the car with both of his two hands while George and Brane lifted up the grill. He stared at the Yugo with sheer hatred and malice in his eyes. They carried all of the stuff back to the abandoned restaurant and placed them near the entrance. Broken Yugo was placed much farther from the entrance.

"HAHA! I've been waiting for this moment! Let's go, men!" shouted Brane in excitement as everyone picked up the paint rollers and buckets and started to recolor the interiors and exteriors of the restaurant.

Time has passed. The trio finished their work just as the moon has risen. All of them were observing their work. What once was a crumbling restaurant was now a subpar looking one. Interiors was colored in titanium white while the exterior was in lemon yellow. An attempt of Bowser's emblem was on the outside walls of the restaurant, but it was covered by yellow paint.

"So, gentlemen. What do you think of this?" grinned Brane as he put his hands on his hips.

"Conventional enough." said George.

"Hmmm….it needs a bit of flair of mine but it looks decent enough." said Bowser while having stains of yellow and white paint all over him.

"Since you two helped me so much, I should reward you…..with THE TASTE OF BALKAN!" offered Brane.

"Better be good or else I'll throw you into the sea!" threatened Bowser.

"Even it is bad, it won't stop me from sharing the goods with the world!" said Brane.

"Whatever, just get on with it." said George.

All of them walked towards the beach and reached the food stand with Bowser carrying the grill and them carrying meat packages. He placed the grill next to the table. Brane opened the box and build the grill in the mere minutes. The grill was also packaged with a kilogram of coal, so he put some coal under the heat plate and checked his pockets for matchsticks, but he had none of them. While Brane was looking away, Bowser spat out a small fireball at the coal, igniting them.

"Woah! Slow it down! Don't get the entire coast on fire!" warned Brane as he just noticed the fire. As soon as possible, he opened the meat packages and placed the meat on the heat plate. Thus all of them waited for the meat to get roasted with Bowser crossing his arms and tapping his foot. Once the meat got a nice little roast on one side, Brane flipped them over with a spatula while sweating and staring at the meat like the most determined person on this planet. With the meat finished, he put the grilled dish of minced meat on the table.

"Bon appetit! Now you shall taste the purity that is ĆEVAPI!" shouted Brane as he offered them his freshly made food.

"Che-what-i? Is this what these are called?" asked Bowser as he smelled them.

"Honestly, they look like turds." commented George.

"HAH! While yes, they might resemble turds, but they taste anything but like a turd!" laughed Brane. All of them grabbed one of the ćevapi and ate them. Bowser was the last one to put one of them in his mouth but he did it anyway.

"So…..how was it?" asked Brane while smiling.

"Not bad." complimented George.

Meanwhile, Bowser was stuffing his mouth with all of ćevapi on the plate. Brane and George looked at him.

"MORE!" demanded Bowser as he smashed his fist on the table.

"Sorry, Bows. That's all for now." said Brane.

"CRUD! I hope tomorrow you bring me a lot of ćevapi! But first…...I need a shower." said Bowser.

"It's over there. We are gonna wait for you in the meantime." Brane pointed towards the closest shower the coast had as he reached for the light he had under the table. Bowser slowly stomped towards it and pressed the button. Shivering cold water flew over his body, but he didn't flinch at all. He was rather standing like a bored statue.

"Yikes! No settings for the warm water!" he thought to himself while the paint stains disappeared over time.

Suddenly, he noticed a moving trash can. It startled him, but before he could look at it from a better perspective, it disappeared.

"Huh? What was that?!" he thought to himself as he walked out of the shower. He started walking towards the food stand, but he heard the sounds of wheels screeching behind him.

"YOU! STOP PLAYING TRICKS ON ME!" he shouted as he turned back, pointing at nowhere. Bowser reached the food stable as Brane had a lamp in his hand while George carried six bottles of some alcoholic drink.

"Hey, Bowser. What's with all the screamin'?" asked George.

"DO NOT SASS ME, GEORGE! I SAW A TRASH CAN FOLLOWING ME!" explained Bowser.

"Moving trash can? I don't recall seeing any trash cans in general lately." said Brane.

"HMMMMM…."thought Bowser out loud. All of them abandoned the food stand with Bowser looking backwards constantly. They returned back to the restaurant and sat down near the wreckage of the Yugo. Brane put the light in the center of where they were sitting. Bowser was still looking to the coast.

"Bowser! You've been staring at the coast for the whole time! Is it because of the alleged trash can?" asked Brane.

"I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES! IT WAS FOLLOWING ME LIKE A GHOST TRYING TO SPOOK ME!" replied Bowser.

"Oh please, there's no way a trash bin can just magically follow you. You tell me that its gonna just wander in like its no one's…." scoffed off George just before a trash can with tiny wheels appeared behind him. He turned back and saw the thing himself.

"….business."

"I TOLD YOU ALL!" shouted Bowser as he pointed at the trash can.

The trash can started to tremble in front of their eyes. Bowser and George stared at it like it's some kind of impending disaster while Brane just observed their reactions. The trembling increased further and further until….

A skeleton popped out, but not the whole one. Only the upper body stood out of the trash can. It clung on the edges of the can and yelled in a thick accent:

"BRANE! GIVE ME THE RAKIA!"

Without hesitation, Brane threw him a bottle of rakia and the skeleton caught it.

"THAT AIN'T ENOUGH!" the skeleton yelled at him, causing him to throw additional two of them.

"Hello." greeted George. The skeleton in a trash can stopped drinking two bottles at the same time and turned around and saw George.

"OOOOOH, BRETHREN! It's nice to see another skelly like me around." boasted the skeleton as he got uncomfortably close to him. George just stared at him in disbelief.

"….Who are YOU and…...WHY...ARE YOU….IN THE TRASH CAN?!" asked Bowser as he just stared in shock.

"...From WHAT circle of hell did ye arrive from and who are you two in the first place?" asked the skeleton after he stopped drinking three bottles of rakia at the same time.

"Oh, those are my new friends! George and Bowser!" Brane introduced them to the skeleton.

"Oh right. Anyway, me name is Mosseau Haggisbourgh of Skrumpskin I. The first and the greatest of the Skrumpskin clan of them all." he introduced himself.

"Sooo….you were once a king, huh? Because let me tell you that I AM THE KING." asked Bowser as he raised his eyebrow.

"Ah no, laddeh. Aye was never monarch, not even a landlord. Aye was better known as THE GREATEST WARRIOR OF SCOTLAND EVER TO GRACE THIS WORLD. Good for ye for embracing feudalism." said the skeleton in trash can.

"I can imagine." said George.

"Ooo, yer doubting me claims, aren't ye?" threatened Mosseau as he stopped drinking six bottles of rakia and pulled out a giant rusty claymore out of his trash can.

"No, that was just a "good for you" response." elaborated George.

"Aight, aye can tolerate that." said Mosseau as he put his claymore back into his trash can.

"So...yer askin yerself: "Why is that skelly in trash can?" Let me tell ye then...The trash can isn't where I reside….It's a part of me body!" explained Mosseau as he demonstrated by hopping for a brief moment.

"I also have A LOT more questions about you and your…..trash can." said Bowser.

"Ooo, aye can explain about why me trash can belongs in me anatomy." offered Mosseau.

"Sure then." said George.

"Mosseau and his stories! It's always a joy for me to listen to them!" praised Brane.

"Aight, lads. Lemme tell ya a grim, bloody fable of Mosseau and his trash can that ends on a very shite note. So not too far ago aye was just goofing around in a bloody battlefield that was near this country. Bullets were flying ever but aye, being the greatest warrior, participated in this conflict. This raw, unfiltered, bloody, diarrhea and vomit inducing conflict that was that war. Also me, being me, utterly outclassed every single combatant in the conflict. Gehehehe. But here is a wee trick. Aye did not mention mechanical monstrosities that modern era brought us. It was not the same as it was thousands of years ago, but aye still managed to keep up. It all suddenly changed when…..that fooking twat-faced, dirt filled, smoke-shitting aerodynamic abomination that is Warthog appeared from the heavens and….BOOM! Blasted off me lower body. Oh and if ye think to yerself: "Oooh, it musn't be that painful since you don't have a nervous system", YER WRONG! Imagine someone firing 30 millimeter uranium depleted bullets in yer arse and aye was going for a beer! Aye lost me dignity and gonads that day, THEN aye get dragged to hell…..for like fourth time or something. Then the bloody devil, who is a total pansy, rejected me from entering hell AGAIN….but not before I scammed him off the trash can of his. Turns out….it's a bloody nice trash can. Oh and aye did some modifications for it. I think that's it, lads." told Mosseau his tale, which left all of them speechless.

"That…..answers one question…...BUT IT RAISES THOUSANDS OF QUESTIONS!" yelled Bowser.

"What a thrillin' story you told me, wiseguy." said George as he sarcastically clapped.

"Honestly….I did not expect this." commented Brane.

"ANYWAY, LET JUST END THIS NOW! I'M TIREEEEEED!" demanded Bowser.

"Yeah, it's annoyin' how long this day is." added George.

"Aight, lad. I have thousands of more fables to tell ya lads." said Mosseau.

"Night, gentlemen!" said Brane.

"Night." said Bowser, George and Mosseau.

Then everyone fell asleep.


	5. The Rise of The Turtle

The sun has risen above the horizon, shining all over the coast of Dalmatia. The sounds of cicadas echoed through out the coast. The paint of the restaurant has completely dried over night. Bowser was still snoring alone near the Yugo wreckage. He woke up, stretched both of his arms and looked around to see if any of his companions are near. George walked up to him from the restaurant.

"Brane wants to see us all at his food stand. I suppose you should get movin'." advised George to the yawning turtle. Out of nowhere, Mosseau rolled in, much to Bowser's suprise.

"MOVE IT , LADS!" he yelled.

All of them moved their rears to the coast, where Brane's little food stand resided. What once used to be just a table covered with a white cloth was now exactly that, but with a sign below it, spelling "TOP BALKAN CUISINE WORLDWIDE!". Packets of various meat were placed underneath the table.

"BRANE! What's up? I see some improvement happened there!" complimented Bowser.

"Ah yes! I did all this stuff this morning! Now…." Brane said as he tapped on the table and gave a thumbs up.

"Now what?" Bowser and George asked.

"We wait for the customers!"

Upon hearing that, Bowser's smile was overtook by a large frown on his face.

"...Why must I ALWAYS WAIT?!" he yelled, clenching his fists.

"Life shall reward those who are patient." said Brane, cleaning a bit of filth from the grill.

Bowser just walked next to the table and stood like a severely damaged totem pole.

"Well, lads. Aye am gonna go to me private place. Aye have some business to do." said Mosseau. Just before he went off to the unknown, Bowser grabbed him by the edge of the trash can.

"Can I at the very least go with you?" asked Bowser, before letting go off him.

"Didn't ye hear "private" in me statement? Now aye must go!" repelled Mosseau as he rolled off to the place unknown.

"Urgh…." groaned Bowser as he sat down and supported his head on his arm.

"Oh, trust me, Bows. You don't wanna know." said Brane.

"Why?" asked Bowser as he glared at him.

"You'll see it eventually." warned Brane. Bowser then stared blankly at the sea. Brane prepared the grill for the incoming customers while George did nothing but standing in his place.

"...So, you're not gonna go anywhere? There are many places to visit here!" asked Brane, pointing out to the nearest city called Baška Voda.

"That is a bad idea." advised George as he lifted his index finger.

"NO!" dismissed Bowser, causing Brane to just shrug off and further continue waiting. A slight breeze blew from the mountain, unnoticeably disrupting the tranquility of the waiting men (and an overly large turtle). The breeze increased its velocity, causing to tip George's hat off his head for a bit. He quickly fixed it before it fell off. However, the breeze did not affect Bowser's determined but static sitting posture.

Suddenly, some kind of man was stumbling away from the town. He appeared to be of the muscular, massive stature with his hands being larger than his torso, but he had ridiculously short legs and a small head. Upon closer inspection, he had a very crusty beard spreading all over his mouth. His left hand was defined by the large tattoo of an anchor, carrying a rather long suitcase with him. Wearing sunglasses and a pilot's cap on his head, an open jacket with a green tank top underneath and brown shorts, the man would be an unusual sight if anyone else other than the four buffoons were on the beach at the moment. Bowser turned his head and noticed him immediately, causing him to stand up and informing Brane:

"Hey, Brane! There's some chump walking there!"

"Opa!" shouted Brane as he rubbed his palms together.

"Do you know this guy or what?" asked George as he poked Brane's shoulder.

"Yes indeed!" said Brane as he waved towards the incoming buff man. He finally arrived towards the food stand, put down his suitcase and gently slammed on the table with his bulky, hairy hand. The man was almost rivaling Bowser in terms of height.

"Oi, mates…." said the man as he stared at them with an intense glare. "I'm Sniper Mad John and let me tell you….."

Everyone quietly looked at each other as if they were participating in a cowboy battle.

"….Nice to meet you!" he said as he offered his massive, bulky hand towards them. "No need for introduction, since Brane already told me about you two."

George reached out his hand, only to see that his palm was dwarfed in size compared to John's hands.

"Why are your hands so bloody massive?" he asked as he shook his hands with John.

"Ah, that's just your usual diet and routine in my country. Not that I'm any different from others, thanks to the certain metal." said the massive sniper.

"What metal and from WHAT beefcake ridden country are you? Also, hello!" asked Bowser as he was about to offer his reptilian hand to him.

"Ah, I'm from Australia! To be honest, you look like you would belong in the wildlife of Tasmania or something and no one would bat an eye." Sniper Mad John clarified.

"….Are you saying that where you come from has EVEN MORE misplaced animals and plants?!" said Bowser as he received a shock from some kind of realization.

"Yeah, mate!" confirmed John with a big smile on his face as he shook hands with Bowser.

"...Oh man, I'm not prepared for the Beefy, inept at natural placement…..whatever their form of government is...of Australia…..YET!" said Bowser as he was imagining reptiles with swole arms wrestling with overly buff men with mustaches and fishing hats in the burning jungle.

"No one is prepared for Straya, mate. Not even the ones born in it. You're molded in it." explained John.

"Eh, what metal did you meant earlier?" asked George as he scratched his chin.

"Australium!"

"...Oh, you're jokin' me. And how much is it worth anyway?" asked George once again.

"Sorry, can't tell that. It's classified information , see. However, I can tell that it brought an era of renaissance to my country." told John.

"….When?" grumbled George as he tilted his head in confusion.

"Uhh….I think in the 60's." mumbled John as he scratched his pilot cap.

"...Oh man, I'm behind these modern times." thought George to himself.

"So, Brane! How's it going?" said Sniper Mad John as he shook his massive hands with Brane.

"Loše! But with the help of these two fine gentlemen, the situation is now very good! I can finally start doing some sweet Balkan food business now! And you, Mad John?" said Brane as he raised his arms up in the air.

"Pretty aight, mate. Just came back from Kosovo, which is not too far from here. Worked for KFOR and I can say that it was quite peaceful this time. However…...I am quite hungry now, since the journey from Kosovo to here has been quite long." said John as he rubbed his hand on his stomach.

"Of course! I shall give you ćevapi, but since you are my first customer in a long time, I shall give you a free sample and then we shall discuss the price!" offered Brane as he immediately turned on the grill and smacked some meat on it. The scent of grilled meat started to engulf the surrounding area, carried by the breeze.

"I WANT SOME ĆEVAPI TOO!" shouted Bowser as he raised his fist up in the air.

"You will get them, brate, but let John have the experience!" said Brane as he continued grilling his food. After his meat has been fully grilled, he put them on the plastic plate, piece by piece.

"Evo ga! It is now done!" proclaimed Brane as he offered the plate towards John. After doing that, he opened up a new package of meat and smacked it on the grill once again, repeating the process. John grabbed the plate and started consuming the ćevapi, one at the time. With each chew, Sniper Mad John made noises of satisfaction.

"Mmmm! Excellent as always, Brane! I've missed such a taste!" exclaimed Mad John. By the time he finished his meal, Bowser has already consumed his entire portion.

"You are welcome, brate!" said Brane as he bowed down towards John like an actor. Bowser gave a thumbs up behind his back.

"Say, George! Do you want some ćevapi too?" offered Brane once more.

"I'll pass." scoffed off George as he waved away from him, causing Brane to just shrug off.

"Oi, Brane! I feel like there's someone missing here." pointed out John as he looked around.

"Oh, him? He just went to his..." George tried to explain, but he was interrupted by the echoing and deafening yell, which went:

"AYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE LADDEEEEEEEEEEEEH!"

Mosseau, while he yelled, rolled down the slope sideways while erratically twitching like a mad bastard, causing additional noise with whatever there was inside his trash can. He was approaching with ever increasing velocity towards the food stand of theirs. Bowser intercepted the general direction of the incoming Mosseau by stepping in front of George and snatching the trash can just before it tumbled over the entire food stand. However, his action did not prevent Mosseau's erratic twitching and yelling. George just blankly stared at the whole situation while Brane and John just glanced over, sighing in process.

"WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING, YOU LUNATIC?!" shouted Bowser as he shook Mosseau and kept him as far from his face as possible, but to no avail.

George stepped close to the range of Mosseau's flailing and observed, coming up with his hypothesis:

"Hmmmm. I see he is sufferin' for being a…."

Just before he could finish his hypothesis, Mosseau abruptly stopped flailing and jumped out of Bowser's grasp, landing in front of George and pointed his left index finger on him.

"If ye say that aye am a "crackhead" or "bonehead" or anything remotely similar in front of me face, aye will rip out yer ribs, shove them right up in yer arse and drown them in the ocean of piss." threatened Mosseau, oddly quietly this time.

"I was about to say that you are a cocaine addict, you damned mentalcase. If you want puns, go ask someone else." retaliated George as he was about to perform his signature slap on him, while simultaneously pointing towards Bowser without him noticing it.

"Oh, aight then." said Mosseau as he then continued flailing his arms around and yelling, falling down on the ground once more.

"...Sheesh!" sighed Bowser.

"Mosseau! You must cease immediately!" warned Brane as he raised his index finger towards him, but he continued having his moment. "If you continue being like this, you'll drive away our incoming customers!"

He kept going on like a mad twat he was.

"And you'll get no Rakia!"

"FUCK!" Mosseau yelled as he stopped flailing and stood up. He turned around and noticed John, who just smiled and waved at him.

"So! Sniper Mad John, me lad, what did aye miss?" asked Mosseau as he further looked around the place.

"Ah, not much. Anyway, I would say that those ćevapi should cost around 7 kuna per approximately 1 pound." advised Sniper Mad John, unintentionally causing confusion towards Brane.

"Wait, how much is that in grams?" asked Brane as he scratched his head.

"I think around 500 grams, but I'm not sure, mate." said John.

"Ah, that seems optimal! 7 kuna per 500g or 1 pound!" declared Brane as he raised his hands up in the air once again.

"Say, Brane….Mind if I join you?" he asked.

"Of course!" welcomed Brane as John stepped between them.

"Gwahahaha…..my dream for conquest is getting closer and closer to reality." thought Bowser to himself as he grinned, clutching his fist in secret.

"Finally, I'm gonna get some money." thought George to himself, fixing his hat for a bit.

After John joined them, the state of waiting returned. Only the breeze turned into the wind of the medium force. However, a sight of a man, who held a beer can, appeared from right side of the coast. He was slowly walking towards the food stand, observing the coast just to kill time. Mosseau quickly hid inside his trash can.

"So, am I and Bows gonna stand here or what?" asked George as he poked Brane's shoulder.

"Ah, no worries about it! Tourists will likely accept you!" reassured Brane as he gave a pat on George's shoulder.

"You sure you aren't trustin' people too much?" said George as his left hand slipped in the pocket, grabbing the revolver just in case.

"Smiri se, George moj! Everything is gonna be fine!" reassured Brane once again.

"Hmmpf, fine." mumbled George, still keeping his hand in the pocket.

The man, who approached the food stand, was the Czech tourist from before. He looked at them, prepared to sip from the can and thought to himself:

"Co to kurva je?"

"Welcome to the TOP BALKAN CUISINE WORLDWIDE! With what kind of food do you want to be blessed with?" introduced Brane as the Czech tourist was just speechlessly baffled by them.

"...Did somebody just got murdered here earlier or what?" he asked as he sipped from his beer can.

"No, it was just that somebody stepped on a nail earlier." explained George while doing motions with his right hand.

"Yeah, it was also a real rusty and smelly one at that." added Bowser.

"And it happened right after his or her foot was recovering from stepping on an urchin." also added John while giving a huge grin.

"Oh, damn. That must have been hellish. Anyway, give me some of your ćevapi, please." requested the Czech tourist, to which Brane immediately prepared ćevapi on the grill. The grilling of aforementioned meat produced a special kind of aroma, which, helped by the wind, engulfed the large area of the coast again. Once the ćevapi were grilled, Brane put them on the plastic plate and offered them to the tourist.

"Voila!" he shouted as the tourist took the plate from his grasp. The Czech tourist picked up one of ćevapi and took a bite out of it. The moment he started chewing it, he started doing noises and gestures of severe satisfaction, much to Brane's pleasure.

"Oh! That is some good shit!" praised the tourist as he gave a thumbs up towards them.

"Thank you very much!" said Brane as he gave out the victory sign towards them.

"Nice!" added Bowser as he raised his fist up in the air.

"Seven kuna, please!" asked Brane, to which tourist gave them one coin of 5 kuna and two coins of 1 kuna without any hesitation whatsoever. Before the tourist left and minded his own business, he asked: "By the way, do you people know anything about that out of control Yugo before?"

"Shit!" thought Brane and George to themselves while John was just dumbfounded and Bowser thought to himself: "Crud!".

"Y-y-yeah, it went on a rampage by itself because it got jealous of other cars being objectively better than it." Bowser tried to explain as he was acting like nothing happened.

"Okay, if you say so." said the tourist as he went away, bringing up his not so modern looking phone and called other people, talking with them in his native language.

"Phew!" relieved Brane and Bowser as they cleaned sweat from their foreheads.

"Is it over yet, lads?" peeked Mosseau from his trash can. Cue the the sight of more people coming not only from the same side as the Czech tourist arrived from earlier, but also from the town itself.

"Nope!" answered Brane, which made Mosseau hide in his trash can once again. As the time passes, more and more people, be it tourists from different nations or Croatian citizens, began to flock over the food stand. With demand getting higher in just few hours, they had to take breaks to provide more meat for the customers. However, with income also getting higher and higher, they had to keep all the money somewhere safe and easily reachable. Mad John took care of providing meat from various butchers and shops while George sneaked into the town during one break, stole some empty jars and created holes on every cap, so that they could slip money inside of them.

Later that day, the sun descended from the sky, now that night shall take its place. The area within the close range of the food stand was no longer flocked by many people. Almost every jar that George brought , which were spread on the table, was filled with mostly coins and occasionally paper money.

"So, shall we call it a day?" asked Brane, just before they could return to their resting place, which was close to the restaurant.

"Yeah." said everyone as Mosseau popped out of his trash can, just to say: "Aye.".

"Very well then!" said Brane as everyone was about to return to the place near restaurant, not before George posed a question: "Say, who's gonna take care of the cash?".

"Hmmmm, I suppose anyone of us could do the job, though I do trust myself on that." advised Brane.

"Not me though. I admit that I ain't good with money." refused George. "However, I suppose you should take care of it, considerin' that you seem confident about it."

"Okay, and I'll let Mosseau be the bank!" said Brane, much to George and Bowser's surprise.

"...Are you sure you're gonna trust him with cash?" asked George, pointing at Mosseau.

"PFFFFT, yer implying that aye ever spend the mone!" he laughed and snorted for a bit.

"Hmmm..." thought George to himself.

"WHAT?! Are ye doubting me cla-" threatened Mosseau again as he was about to bring out one of his weapons from his trash can.

"Just curious." clarified George, just so that Mosseau could calm down.

"...Oh." said Mosseau as he stopped himself from further aggression. Everyone then returned to the place near restaurant, where they sat down near the light, which illuminated the area near the Yugo wreckage.

"The grill was success! Now that only the restaurant has not been proven yet, I do wonder if we should just toss one of the options away once the restaurant shall prove itself." said Brane as he scratched his beard.

"Why not keep both? If have them in the best form, we'll have double the income." advised George.

"Yes, and we'll get RICHER quicker!" Bowser supported his statement.

"Aight, but wouldn't that mean we would have the competition with ourselves, considering how close the restaurant and the food stand are?" argued Sniper Mad John.

"Not if take it to the account that the income shall not be split for the restaurant and the stand separately, but rather combined. Perhaps the food stand should work for the smaller doses of food for the customers, like drive-through or somethin', but the restaurant should work for the bigger stuff, like if people want to eat lunch. Capisce?" informed George, crossing his arms in the process.

"Who's gonna work there though?" asked Bowser.

"I would say John. He seems like a guy that would attract a lot of people without looking too odd." recommended George, while glancing at John.

"Oh, thank you very much! Now that I have been given this role and I assume Brane will be the main chef, what would you three be?" said Mad John.

"Uh...I don't even know. I'm a king, not a RESTAURANT MANAGER!" grumbled Bowser.

"Perhaps you could be the cashier for the restaurant. The first thing customers would see will be you, of course!" advised Brane.

"So that means I'm gonna get more well known here easier? NICE!" shouted Bowser and he laughed like a villain.

"I'm gonna be the provider of resources. Don't question my ways of doing it, though." announced George.

"Oh, aye am gonna be a SCAVENGER!" affirmed Mosseau, as he grabbed the edges of his trash can.

"...For what purpose?" asked George as he glared at him.

"Well, somebody has to fill that quota, eh? Not like the wasted food and beverages are the worst thing aye ever ate personally." elaborated Mosseau.

"Ew, that is DISGUSTING and I don't wanna hear more of it." complained Bowser as he winced.

"What?! Sometimes ye gotta eat anything to survive even if it sucks, laddeh!" said Mosseau.

"Yep, I know this." added Mad John.

"So, is everything clear?" asked Brane, just to reassure himself.

"For the restaurant stuff, yes." answered George, with everyone else nodding to his statement.

"So, mates, shall we kill some time or are we going to sleep now?" asked Mad John as he offered a deck of 52 playing cards, immediately catching George's interest.

"Of course." said George, much to Bowser's surprise.

They played various games during the night, such as poker and so on. George was unanimously and calmly winning all the games in a row, much to Bowser's and Mosseau's rage while Brane and John had laughing fits. After several laughing fits, outbursts of anger and noise disturbance warnings, they went to sleep, awaiting for a new day to come. Little did they know that George and Brane woke up a bit earlier.

Next morning, the remaining ones woke up and saw a billboard on the restaurant, with the words "Kornjača" written on it and a drawing of a turtle next to the text. The interior of the restaurant also had some sudden improvements, like a vending machine with beverages, a cash register, a vault and an electric grill.

"Ta-daaaa! Now the restaurant has become "Kornjača", the newer and better than before!" boasted Brane as he pointed his arms towards the renewed restaurant, with George standing near him silently.

"Corn-ya-what?" asked Bowser as he squinted his eyes towards the billboard.

"Kornjača! As in turtle!" explained Brane.

"Ah, I see-WAIT A MINUTE!" noticed Bowser something. "Did you just indirectly name your restaurant after ME?!"

"Yep!" confirmed Brane without hesitation.

"Why, thank you! Nice that even more people will know me, but indirectly." complimented Bowser as he gave a high five to Brane. George stepped closer towards Bowser and whispered: "He was about to name the restaurant with your name, but I've said that's a bit too obvious and if any scandal happens, we would have been an obvious target."

"Ah, nothing too bad. Still a nice gesture, if an indirect one." shrugged Bowser and so did George.

"I have to admit, if it was more direct, I would like it more." he thought o himself.

Meanwhile, Mosseau was observing the interior while John was waiting for him. Then he rolled towards Brane and said: "You know, lad. There's something missing here."

"Tell me, Mosseau! If it's variety in food or such, then don't worry. I've got that covered with pljeskavica, burek and fish!" said Brane. Hearing the words "fish", Bowser winced: "Eugh, MORE FISH?!"

"Is there anything wrong with fish?" asked Brane, being confused at Bowser's disgust.

"No, it's just I can't stand them after that journey." elaborated Bowser.

"Ah! That makes sense! Anyway, what was it, Mosseau?" asked Brane once again.

"TELEVISION!" yelled Mosseau while flailing his arms.

"...What purpose would that have to a restaurant?" questioned George.

"Ye know, if there's one thing that makes people flock around a place like birds around breadcrumbs, it's FOOTBALL MATCHES, LAD!" said Mosseau.

"Do I sense a compensation for legs?" sassed George.

"SHUT YER GEGGIE, YE SNOBBISH, BOAR-LICKED KNOBHEAD!" flipped off Mosseau as he showed his middle finger towards George, to which he did not respond.

"Well, mates. I have to go now. Mosseau, come with me!" said Mad John as Mosseau rolled just right behind him, constantly yelling: "WAIT FOR ME, LADDEH!"

Bowser and Brane entered the restaurant and prepared themselves for the incoming customers and George disappeared into nowhere. Meanwhile John and Mosseau arrived to the food stand and prepared everything. Mosseau hid himself in the trash can once again, just so no one could notice him. As soon as they arrived, one man from the town with sunglasses and a flaming shirt, which had " A" written on its back, rushed towards the food stand and asked: "Greetings, fellow gentleman of similar stature. May I ask you for a large amount of edible substance, which shall provide me nutrients for survival?".

"Oi, mate! We sell ćevapi there! So how much would you want?" asked Mad John with a big grin on his face.

"My most humble apology, but I am afraid that a grilled cuisine made out of minced meat, which is signature in the Southeastern Europe, shall not provide satisfactory for my ever-increasing state of hunger. I would like to ask for something akin to pljeskavica or, if I'm being too demanding, which I apologize in advance, some spit roast, preferably made out of a swine?" said the Polish tourist.

"Sorry, mate. The food stand only sells ćevapi for now. However, if you want a desirable lunch, there's a newly open restaurant over there." advised Mad John as he pointed towards the direction of the restaurant.

"I highly appreciate your help, my good sir, but alas, I must proceed to the restaurant that you have generously pointed for me. Farewell." said the tourist as he rushed towards the restaurant at the high velocity. He entered the restaurant and quickly approached Bowser, much to his surprise.

"Welcome to Kornjača, where you can taste the food out there!" promoted Bowser as he welcomed the customer.

"Greetings, fellow extraordinary reptile of the order Testudines, most likely resembling Macrochelys temminckii species. I have arrived here to order a large amount of edible substance, which shall provide me with nutritions, preferably protein and fat." greeted the Polish tourist.

"Uh...what do you want, professor?" asked Bowser, completely baffled by the tourist's speech as he was about to write the order.

"I would humbly ask for the local dish called "pljeskavica" with some ajvar on the side." requested the tourist as Bowser wrote down the order and gave the paper to Brane. After seeing the order, Brane immediately smacked one large pljeskavica on the electric grill. The grilling of pljeskavica created aroma, which again engulfed the coast by the help of the stronger winds. Once the pljeskavica was grilled enough properly, Brane put it on the ceramic plate, put and additional lepinja and spread some ajvar next to it. He gave the plate to Bowser, which he delivered it to the Polish tourist.

"Here you go! Enjoy the cuisine of Dalmatia!" said Bowser as he offered the plate to his customer and returned to his place.

"Fungah! I'm becoming like him" he secretly thought to himself.

The tourist picked up the fork and a knife and started consuming the meat, sometimes dipping it into the ajvar. The satisfaction on his face after the consumption of pljeskavica could not be described with mere words.

"MY WORD! EXQUISITE! My muscular organ, which can detect various tastes, has never tasted such a divine excellence ever before!" clamored the tourist, which in response, both Bowser and Brane yelled: "YES!"

After the customer paid for the pljeskavica, he left the restaurant in high spirits. However, in a quite short time, more people started to enter the restaurant. Bowser welcomed them with a boastful smile as Brane worked overtime, just to satisfy his customers. Most, if not all of the customers were singing praises about Brane's delicacies. The food stand was also selling the food, but not as successfully as the restaurant. After the sun descended from the sky once again, they temporarily closed the restaurant and sat down the Yugo wreckage as always. Just as before, they played various card games before sleep, with George having a winning streak. The next day surprised them, as contractors started to appear over the restaurant, requesting that this restaurant should spread all over the places. Of course, no one between the buffoons hesitated for Kornjača to spread out more. At first, it only spread through Dalmatia, appearing in towns like Makarska, which replaced that abandoned shop. The day for the working buffoons was almost identical as before, with Bowser greeting customers with a smile and taking their orders while Brane grilled the meat like a composition of aroma and taste. However, they somehow installed a digital television in one of the corners of the restaurant, mostly playing football matches with occasional news on it. Same as before, the restaurant closed after the sunrise, with them playing card games again.

However, within less of a week, Kornjača spread all over Croatia, from Makarska to Vukovar. Croatian citizens began to chant "Kornjača" all over the place, especially notably when the new branch of the restaurant was about to open.

In Zagreb, reporters recorded the mass chanting that happened near one of the branches. One of them reporters tried to interview some of the people in the masses.

"Mister, can you tell us about this unexpected, but well regarded restaurant that is called Kornjača?" asked the reporter.

"KORNJAČA JE JAČA!" the man and the masses yelled in union as they continued chanting.

"It is true….Kornjača took over Croatia!" said the reporter dramatically as they played a stock music piece over it.

Bowser and his group watched the whole ordeal on their own DTV with pleasure. George was too busy counting money to concentrate on TV though.

"We did it! We have become locally famous!" shouted Brane as he raised his arms up to the heavens.

"YES! Now people know how good our food is!" complimented Bowser as he gave Brane a high five once again.

"Finally, we have something to supply ourselves." said George as he briefly looked towards them, before he continued counting money.

"Goob job, mates!" praised Mad John as he gave everyone a handshake.

"WHEN'S ARSENAL?! CHANGE THE CHANNEL ALREADY!" screamed Mosseau as he slammed on his trash can.

"Wait! We have to see our news first!" said Brane, just before the news switched to another story.

"We shall cover the story of some celebrity causing some sh-" reported the broadcaster before George switched the channel to the football match between Arsenal versus Manchester.

"Here's your football match you desired so much." said George, leaving Mosseau alone with his TV. Everyone else also joined him and started playing cards while Mosseau was cussing up storms because of the match. Just before they went to sleep, Bowser's smile slowly turned into a slight frown as he looked down on the floor.

Within next few days, Kornjača has officially spread beyond the borders. Reports say that the sights of the restaurants have been found from Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bulgaria and even Slovenia, but so far nowhere else had it spread. Although the reception towards Kornjača in these countries was positive, it was not as extreme as in Croatia, even some in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria giving negative reviews for it. The most popular location still remained Baška Voda, with hundreds of people flocking the place. However, with each day, Bowser's aforementioned boastful smile started to fade away and became more unusually passive. This continued up until one day, where Bowser's smile completely faded away, leaving him to be utterly bored. Once the working hours have past, they all sat down near the wreckage and played card games, with Bowser winning this time.

"Congratulations, you won this one." complimented George as he offered Bowser a handshake, but Bowser refused it, much to George's surprise.

"Eh."

"Huh? Bowser, what is the matter?" asked Brane.

"Eeeeeeeeeeh."

"No seriously, what's wrong?" also asked Sniper Mad John.

"For fuck's sake, yer being like a passive mule lately. Spit it out or aye'll make ye say it!" rambled Mosseau as he was about to unleash his claymore.

"I suppose I should reveal the truth. Brane….I know restaurant business is fun for you and such….but it doesn't work for me. Something has been missing from my life ever since I left my kingdom." vented Bowser.

"Ah, I understand you, Bowser. What's been missing from your life though?" consoled Brane.

Bowser silently stood up and said one simple thing:

" **CONQUEST!"**

"Of course." said George as he performed a motion similar to the one someone rolling their eyes.

"Hahaha, you have certainly conquered the Balkan cuisine." joked Sniper Mad John.

"Did ye say…..conquest!?" shrieked Mosseau in excitement as he raised his claymore up in the air.

"NO! THAT IS NOT THE SAME! Sure, we have established dominion over Balkan cuisine chain, but...My style of conquering is more of CRUSHING EVERY ENEMY WITH THE IRON FIST, TAKING THEIR LAND WITH THE FORCE AND MAKING THEIR ENTIRE POPULATION KNEEL ONCE THEY HEAR THE NAME OF THEIR CONQUEROR: BOWSER! WITH SHEER POWER, I SHALL TAKE OVER THIS WORLD! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" boasted Bowser as he posed menacingly along with his rant, leaving everyone speechless.

"Uhm….should we tell that his plan seems….impossible?" whispered John to Brane, just before George bluntly told him: "No, Bowser, that is not possible to accomplish here."

"HMMPF! Go ahead and tell me WHY is such a plan impossible!" pouted Bowser as he crossed his arms.

Sniper Mad John quickly took out a world map out of his pocket and showed him every country on it. He pointed out on one nation: United States of America.

"What about it?" asked Bowser, being confused by the point John was trying to make.

"This is the United States, the most armed country on the planet. Practically unrivaled in terms of technology with very few countries EVEN competing it." started explaining John.

"Bah! T-t-they can boast all they want, but they'll have to PROVE it!" he tried to refute any statement.

"….It's entire army can destroy this world multiple times if they wanted just by one weapon type. Who knows how would a full scale battle against USA look like." further continued John, which made George's jaw drop.

"HOLY S….SHUCKLES! T-T-THIS IS A JOKE, RIGHT?!" screamed Bowser as his jaw also dropped and his irises shrunk.

"...I always knew my country was powerful, but to basically have that much power? I never knew..." mumbled George while staring at the world map.

"Oooooh, wrecking yer arse isn't the only they'll do to ye! They'll peacekeep it! So yeah, don't fuck with 'em unless you want unlubed annihilation of everything ye knew, loved and yer rectum." further added Mosseau.

"Not only that, but they're also one of the leading parts of NATO!" spiced up John.

"WHAT-O?! WHAT KIND OF FORCE OF NATURE IS THAT?!" asked Bowser while trembling.

"North Atlantic Treaty Organization or, to put it short, a military alliance between the States, most of the Europe, with very few countries being in NATO that are not in Europe. Basically, if you piss off one of the countries within the membership, the alliance will strike back HARD!" elaborated John, much to Bowser's horror.

"..So not only do they have SO MUCH POWER….they have other not as powerful but still threatening countries on their side? TALK ABOUT AN OVERKILL! No wonder why you guys seem to think that world domination is impossible here!" ranted Bowser.

"Oh yes! A fellow neighbor country of mine received a taste of NATO not too long ago." added Brane while pointing behind the mountains.

"The taste was fucked, mang." said Mosseau quietly.

"So, I hope at least anyone not in the NATO shall not give us trou-WHAT IN THE NAME OF FUNGUS IS THAT COUNTRY AND WHY IS IT SO BIG?!" Bowser tried to reassure himself but he noticed Russian Federation on the map.

"Russia? Oh yeah, you should be wary of it. While the consequences might not be as extreme as pissing off United States, they'll still wreck everything if you do provoke them….ruthlessly." said John.

"Oh man….things were much simpler back in my kingdom. Only Mario and Luigi were really the forces I couldn't defeat and even then they're were just some stupid plumbers in the end. Everything else was a big joke to me thanks to my pure power….and sometimes plumbers because certain mockeries of villains somehow managed to OUTSMART ME….not my fault though. But…..this….this NATO thing sends shivers down my spine just imagining it. What even makes them so powerful enough that they could manage to destroy this world multiple times? Is it some kind of doomsday device or what? I'm not screwing with them or that giant named Russia, since they would end everything I knew and loved….I must think of something…." thought Bowser to himself, before he came up with something.

"Hmm…Perhaps my old techniques of conquering countries wouldn't work here…...BUT…..I have an idea." revealed Bowser to them, which all of them caught interest.

"Perhaps as a start we could conquer….SOME SMALL ISLANDS THAT NO ONE CARES ABOUT! Obviously not close to here since….we are close to those NATO countries right?" advised Bowser as he turned his back towards them, glancing them over like a villain.

"Just to clarify, we are in a NATO country." said Brane.

"….We are leaving Croatia tomorrow." boldly declared Bowser as he clutched his fist.

"ŠTO?! Z-Z-ZAŠTO!? HOW COULD I EVER LEAVE THE BEAUTIFUL DALMATIA!?" panicked Brane as he began to sweat.

"Listen, I've been in this situation before. You start missin' it at first, but you'll get over it. I do miss a bit of Big Apple though." told George his experience.

"So have I, but I've got sick of constantly failing. I had to move out and this is the golden opportunity to do it. Speaking of opportunities….Brane, don't you want to spread your cuisine all over the world?" claimed Bowser, enlightening the mind of Brane.

"...I...I do! Oh ja! I could spread Balkan cuisine through your conquest!" said Brane as he raised his fist up in the air like a rebel.

"And do you three desire anything from the conquest?" Bowser asked them.

"As a vagabond myself, I don't really desire anything than a good paycheck and just traveling around the world, mate." said Sniper Mad John.

"Needs for survival and a good paycheck." demanded George.

"GLOOOOOOOOORY!" yelled Mosseau as he pulled out his claymore and the bagpipes. Just as he was about to play them, everyone told him to stop, much to his dismay.

"Well then! Those don't seem too difficult, but just before we take a rest for our incoming conquest, I must simply do one thing first." requested Bowser as he grinned towards Mosseau and George.

"WHAT?!" shouted Mosseau while George just uncomfortably looked at Bowser.

"It is true that our conquest is impossible with just five of us. Anyone with a functioning brain would said that. However, with an army, WE SHALL ACCOMPLISH OUR GOALS and I just got the right idea on what army shall look like!" explained Bowser while laughing maniacally. "Say...does anyone here have some kind of communication thingamajig or something?"

Brane immediately gave him his old Nokia phone. He had difficulties typing on it with his reptilian sausage hands, but he managed to type a random combination of numbers. Bowser put the phone near his ear and waited for the answer.

"Riiing….Hello? Who's calling this?" asked a familiar voice.

"Who else than YOUR MAJESTY HIMSELF, BOWSER!" answered Bowser.

"O-o-o-oh, your Farawayness! It's been….quite a long time honestly!" stuttered the voice.

"Kamek, I need you for something! Bring me that wand which revives the dead people, but keeps them as bones NOW!" demanded Bowser.

"I-i-i'll be there but where are you even?" asked Kamek.

"Baška Voda, Croatia. Also important: MAKE THEM SPEAK ENGLISH….so that there could be no language barriers!" further demanded Bowser.

"Understood, your Demandiness!"

"Also, get me Junior on the phone now!" ordered Bowser. Kamek switched the phone, so that Bowser Jr. could get on the it.

"Hey, Papa!"

"Junior! What's up, my son!" asked Bowser all giddy.

"Nothing much, pops. We're trying to conceive a plan to kidnap Peach without those dumb plumbers noticing!" answered Bowser Jr. happily.

"Just expected for my son! By the way, did you do your homewoooork?"

"….Yes, Papa, I did my homework….and other chores too….and commanding the army too." groaned Bowser Junior.

"Good! You know, dad is in this weird country called Croatia. Like, the beaches don't even have sand here, instead it's foot torture and the nature is super weird there, but once you get used to it, it's very nice." said Bowser.

"Cool! I hope one day, we might be able to visit it together. Whelp, time to inspect those Goombas! See ya, papa!" said Bowser Junior as he put down the phone.

"See ya later, Junior!" said Bowser a goodbye and then looked back, seeing them all baffled with exception of Mosseau.

"...You have a son?" Brane, George and John all asked in union.

"YES INDEED! Not only that, I have also additional SEVEN KIDS AS WELL!" he boasted as he put his arms on his hips.

"...Oh wow, mating season for you was fucking mental." said George.

"Eight only? PFFFFFFFFFFFT! That's nothing, laddeh. Aye used to have 25 kids back in me days!" countered Mosseau.

By the time Bowser told him about the kids, Kamek already arrived to the scene with some kind of wand in his hand.

"Here it is, your Majesty. Apologies for rushing, but I must take care." said Kamek as he gave the wand to Bowser and flew off back to his kingdom.

"COME BACK, YE WIZARD!" taunted Mosseau as he grabbed his AK-47 from his trash can.

"Don't fire at my own minions, Mosseau!" warned Bowser, making Mosseau hide his AK-47 back in his trash can. He observed the wand for a bit before deciding: "Now...anyone tell me where's the nearest graveyard?"

Later that night, somewhere on the sea facing side of the mountain, they found some abandoned graveyard with severely damaged graves. Crows observed them from the distanced and flew away, minding their own business. Then Bowser stomped with his foot and raised the wand up in the air.

" **RISE FROM THE BELOW, MY SKELETAL FRIENDS!"**

The lightnings from the wand scorched the earth with the sheer power of Bowser, causing large vibrations in the ground. Suddenly, skeletal arms bursted through the layer of ground, pulling themselves out of their grisly graves. More and more arms rose from the earth, with every furious skeleton fully ascending from their graves to the mortal realm of this world. Once every skeleton from the graveyard has risen, they all screamed in union:

" **FUCKBOYS BEWARE! YOU'RE IN FOR A SCARE!"**

Bowser, with a big smug grin on his face, approached the mass of skeletons, making every skeleton look in his eyes.

"Listen very carefully! I AM BOWSER, THE ONE WHO GAVE YOU ANOTHER CHANE, YOUR NEW LEADER! I DREAM TO BECOME ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTAL AND POWERFUL PERSON ON THIS PLANET. MY ACTIONS SHALL BE WRITTEN IN HISTORY! I WILL BECOME A CONQUEROR GREATER THAN…..uh…." Bowser gave a speech to them before he asked his companions for help. "Who was the greatest conqueror of them all?"

"Alexander the Great?" answered Mosseau.

"Yesss...GREATER THAN ALEXANDER THE GREAT! I SHALL OVERCOME HIM! I WILL BECOME RICHER THAN…...uh….who's the richest person on this planet?" asked Bowser once again.

"Sheikh?" answered Sniper Mad Jon.

"YESSSS…..I SHALL BECOME RICHER THAN SHEIKH! SO COME WITH ME, MY FELLOW BONES!" he completed his speech.

"Nice!" the skeletons said in the union.

"You will also get a lot of money if you join me." added Bowser.

"OH NICE, LAD!" they all yelled.

"Also, if yer gonna get our trust properly, aye might share some cocaine with ye." promoted Mosseau.

"SING ME THE FUCK UP, BOY!" they all yelled in union as they flocked over the Bowser's side.

"GWAHAHAHAHA! NOW THE WORLD SHALL FEAR THE NAME OF BOWSER! But for now…..let's take a rest shall we?"


	6. Menace from the Knossos

_Author's note: the timing of uploading this chapter might be beyond awful, so I apologize in advance._

In the morning, dozens of tourists and townspeople gathered around the seemingly closed restaurant, anticipating the words of the staff. The doors of the restaurant opened, with four buffoons of different sizes and shapes going out to the public. A trash can was standing near the entrance as Mosseau secretly peeked through out the whole ordeal. While George, Brane and John stopped and waited in their places, Bowser took few steps ahead and raised his arms towards them as he was about to announce something. The public quietly but tensely watched him as he spoke:

"My fellow Croatians and tourists from the lands of near and far away! Today I, the GREAT owner and one of the creators of Kornjača, Bowser, will announce that, yes, me and my crew are DEPARTING from this actually pretty nice, if not very weird country!"

"WHAT?!" yelled the public as they tried to get closer to Bowser and attempt to "interview" (in reality bomb him with related and unrelated questions) him on such a choice.

"CHILL, PEOPLE! Now let me explain! First and the most of all, just because we will be absent does not mean that Kornjača will be gone! In fact, it will stay here, unless you people decide to demolish it…..which I DO NOT RECOMMEND! Anyway, while the decision for the departure was tough, it is an utmost threshold for our incoming co-I mean, "adventures" around the world, so that the word of Kornjača shall be well known!"

The crowd calmed down. Instead with yelling, they responded with a thunderous applause for his speech. Bowser waved to them, making them cheer. The other three observed the whole situation. Brane put his arms on his waist, proudly smiling towards the public. John had a huge smile on his face and gave Brane a high-five, meanwhile George crossed his arms and leaned on the wall, watching them cheer.

"Now, before I go….I must do something VERY important, but it's not for the public ears." declared Bowser, just before he stepped to his crew and asked: "Hey, now that we're out….who's gonna take care of the restaurant?"

Just before any of his crew could've answered, the Czech and Polish tourist appeared right next to them, with both of them having crossed their arms.

"We shall volunteer, providers of exquisite food!" offered the Polish tourist as he raised his fist up in the air.

"Hmmpf...Since you two were the first ones to taste our grand delicacies, I shall give you permission to take care of it!" said Bowser as he gently shook their hands.

"You better not let everythin' go to waste, capisce?" warned George as he turned his head and glared at them.

"George! How could you say such stuff? I guarantee you they won't ruin our business!"

"While we understand that we are on high pedestal after your success, we will give you a word of a true man and will run this place as successfully as you!" promised the Polish tourist while the Czech tourist nodded in agreement.

"Brane, here's a life lesson for you: never underestimate the ability of someone completely ruinin' your career and potentially your life in a single decision." advised George.

"Well, it ain't that wrong, but isn't it a bit overkill to assume this about everyone?" admitted Brane as he brushed off sweat from his forehead.

"You see, you never know who's gonna do it, be it some random guy on the streets or one of your associates. It even could be anyone between us." further advised George.

"He's right, lad." quietly said Mosseau towards Brane, to which he nodded.

"Anyway, since Bowser has approved you two, I guess I'll allow it as well." said George, giving out the final needed approval. The Pole and the Czech gave each other a high-five and yelled: "YEAH!". While both of them overtook the attention of the people, Bowser and his associates went away from the public and approached the Yugo wreck. Without hesitation, Bowser lifted it with all of his strength and carried it to the nearest parking lot. Only thing that was parked there was a single but a bit modified in terms of length and width Volkswagen Type 2 Samba bus, painted in Woodland pattern and internally armed with M2 Browning heavy machine guns on each side. "KFOR" in white letters was written on one side of the bus. For the sake of simplicity, John calls it "Bendigo". Bowser put down the Yugo wreckage and cracked his fingers.

"Does anybody here have any idea where should I put this?" asked Bowser as he observed the Bendigo.

"On the roof, I would say." answered John.

"Yeah, but how is to gonna stay in one-" further asked Bowser, just before John pulled out a duct tape out of his jacket, much to his surprise. After that, Bowser gently placed the wreck on the Bendigo's roof.

"Always be prepared for everything." said John as he taped Yugo on the roof to prevent further accidents. He also opened the door of Bendigo, letting everyone inside. Aside from the installed machine guns, only the driver's seat and the seat next to it remained in order to make space in the bus. Although Bowser had slight difficulties entering the vehicle, there was enough space between his bulky head and the ceiling, much to his relief. He was the first one to enter the vehicle, with Mosseau and George following him afterwards. John took over the driver's seat while Brane sat next to him. Starting up the engine, he grabbed the steering wheel with his massive, muscular, hairy hands and prepared his foot on the pedal, just as he asked:

"Mates, where shall we go now?"

"TO THE SCRAPYARD!" commanded Bowser as stomped with his foot and raised his fist slightly above his head, just to not hit the roof.

"Aight then." said Sniper Mad John as he stepped on the gas, set up some 60's and 70's psychedelic rock about and drove off all the way to Makarska. When they arrived to the town, they searched for the nearest scrapyard, driving around the city like they were secretly patrolling the town. Once they finally found the closest scrapyard with a cut in half Volkswagen Beetle, which its left side faced away from it, as a sign, they parked their Bendigo right in front of the entrance, squeezed through the other (much more modern) automobiles and walked out of it. John took a swiss army knife out of his jacket and cut the tapes from the wreck, letting Bowser take it from the roof. As the went through the entrance of the scrapyard filled with rusty Renault 4's (also known as "Katrca"), Zastava 750's, fellows Zastava Yugo's and other automobiles from the eras such as 60's, 70's and 90's, Bowser put down the wreckage of Brane's Yugo in some gap between the walls of wrecked cars. The moment of silence followed as everyone looked down towards the wreck.

Suddenly, Bowser lunged towards the wreck and smashed with his arm, looking almost beastly in the process. Steam fumed through his nostrils as he took his breaths heavily. Brane's irises shrunk as he froze in place, John's jaw dropped, George just amusingly but bafflingly observed the whole situation and Mosseau just went: "Oh me!"

"YOU WILL PAY FOR EVERY HEADACHE YOU GAVE ME, YOU FOUR WHEELED DISASTROUS, PATHETIC DISGRACE OF A CAR!" shouted Bowser as he started pummeling the wreck his his iron-like fists. As if his fists weren't enough, he further continued to blast the poor car by stomping on it with his lumbering feet, further crushing the metal. Mosseau just cheered for him, yelling: "GO, GET THAT MECHANICAL FUCKTWAT! MAKE IT FEEL LIKE IT WOULD HAVE A BETTER PLACE TO MALFUNCTION IN HELL!"

With each blow, the ground shook a bit and the noise traveled through the approximate distance of a football stadium. The not so slight shock waves of his clobbering had a much lower radius than the noise, but it did cause near driving cars to jump up a bit, much to the confusion of the drivers. The owner of the scrapyard stomped out of the house and approached Brane, witnessing the carnage of his own car.

"Pa što ovi je poludio?" asked the owner, as he pointed towards the raging turtle.

"Nee, on samo frustracije svoje van dava." explained Brane, doing gestures with his hands.

"I do not know your language, but yes." leaned George towards the owner.

"Ali zašto? Zašto to radi?" further asked the owner as he grabbed his head in disbelief.

"Glavobolje, bi reko." answered Brane as he crossed his arms and smirked.

As they had their discussion, Bowser rendered the wreckage into a small cube. He grabbed it and prepared to spit out fire from his mouth, but Brane saw his incoming actions and yelled: "BEZ VATRA!"

"….WHAT?!" asked Bowser, confused at him.

"Oh….sorry, I've meant to say no fire." clarified Brane.

"Hmmpf…." grumbled Bowser as he squashed the cube to the smallest possible size and threw it to the pile of other wrecks. He exhaled one breath in relief and walked towards them in a slightly relaxed mood.

"Brane, I hope you didn't have an….attachment to your car, right?" said John as he gave a pat on Brane's shoulder.

"Nah, friend. Only thing I'll lose from this is the nostalgia of the older days, but we must move on. We can't dwell about the past when we can make a change today. Besides, it's not called "The worst car of the millennium" without a reason!" elaborated Brane. The owner just stared, bewildered by everything about them.

"So...shall we go now?" asked Bowser as he crossed his arms pridefully. Everyone in his group nodded and left the scrapyard, leaving the owner speechless. As they entered their Bendigo and drove away, the owner entered his own house and sighed:

"Ludaki jedni."

Bendigo drove away from Makarska as they went to the direction to Promajna. Slowly rolling downhil, they went through this rather small, but exquisite looking town near the coast, filled with tourists, shops, cars and boats of the old and modern age, although the roads were in a need for

maintenance. The visit ended quickly as they rolled away, now on the "yet to be fixed by authorities" path. After some time, they finally stopped in a close range of the ship. All of them stepped out of the Bendigo and saw something that they did not really expect:

The ship was covered by seagulls, squawking everywhere as loud as possible, but for some reason their rears were facing towards the sea, not the ship. Jaguar Mk1 seemed to be covered by a white, rather stainless tarp.

Bowser took breath and yelled:

"SHOOOOOOOO!"

The marine based avian hindrances flocked away as far from the turtle as possible, squawking all the way through. While Brane and John stared with their wide eyes, George scratched his beard and thought about something. Mosseau missed out the mass flocking due being too busy drinking the leftovers of one of his last Rakija bottles.

"Hmmpf. I bet those two BONEHEADS are involve-" rumbled Bowser, just before he abruptly stopped just before the pebble-infested beach. "NO!"

"Oh hey, looks like you visited your friends again." nudged George at him as he spun his revolver around his finger.

"GEORGE! HOW DARE YOU!" shouted Bowser as he frustratingly pointed his index finger at him.

"Just pointin' out the truth." shrugged off George, while continuing doing not really productive stuff with his gun.

"I fail to see a problem, to be honest, but I'm pretty used to it." said Brane.

"Well, if you like PAIN WHEN WALKING, then sure, absolutely no problem for you! Once I come back, I'll replace these CURSED STONES with something less painful, but potentially still as irritating like sand!" grumbled Bowser as his irises shrunk when observing the stones.

"Well, the stones gradually turn into sand thanks to the waves." reassured Sniper Mad John as he took a glance at his briefcase he was carrying.

"In what sense…..gradually?" asked Bowser in an almost threatening tone.

"Million years." answered John as he shrugged.

"WHAT?! NO ONE HAS TIME FOR THIS, LET ALONE ME!" shouted Bowser as he flailed his arms around like a deflated balloon.

"Well, aye do." blurted out Mosseau out of a sudden. Everyone turned their heads and stared at him as he committed a monetary fraud. "Wha?"

"Of course you would. Of course. You're older than dirt" sighed George as he tapped his hat.

"Aye mean, that's not exactly false, but it is true that aye have a lot of experience in me life and a lot more blood to spill, so aye can paint me a war face, so watching how the sand is created is not on me priorities." said Mosseau, which made everyone stare calmly but bafflingly at him.

"….Of course." said everyone to him as they turned to the direction of the ship's location.

"Anyway, ENOUGH OF CHIT CHAT! It is time to lift the anchors and proceed with our quest (and my conquest)!" declared Bowser as he walked to the Bendigo. "Everyone, get in!"

And so everyone got inside the Bendigo again. Bowser grabbed it with his muscular arms, lifted it like it was nothing and leaped onto the ship, causing it to shake a bit. Once he landed, he gently put the Bendigo near the Jaguar. Everyone stepped out of the van.

"Jače! You are a real Popeye, Bows!" cheered Brane as he gave a high-five to Bowser.

"Thank you, Brane! Now you see why do I have muscles like this!" bragged Bowser as he flexed his arms.

The vibrations were enough for to make two boneheads in charge of the ship open the door of the bridge.

"Oh look, it's the turtle man again, at it with his """"macho"""" car lifting service." groaned Scrongus.

"Oh, I already know. It's something about those damned feathery bastards, isn't it?" guessed Krongus, staring at him with disdain.

"INDEED IT IS! NOW EXPLAIN YOURSELVES AND DON'T EVEN BOTHER ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER ON WHO'S GONNA DO IT!" demanded Bowser, slamming his fist onto a palm.

"The coin shall decide." George stepped right in as he pulled out his bronze cent out of his pocket.

"Boss!" both of them yelled as their hands reached towards him.

"Head for Scrongus, tail for Krongus." declared George just before he threw the coin high in the air. Everyone on broad observed the brief ascension, constantly flipping in the air and defying the breeze, as it turned into a quick descension, falling like a stone being thrown from a high tower. The coin nearly hit the floor of the ship, if George couldn't have caught it and revealed it on which side it fell.

"Tail."

Krongus smugly stepped in front of the crew and started to talk: "Allow me to explain, Don. So, while we, yes, we were watching over the ship, these seagulls just kept landing here. At first, they were just one or two, but that number just kept multiplying until every inch of fences had at least two seagulls on them. But you may think "why didn't you just fend them to go away?". Well….these were persistent son's of ruptured rectums of the avian kind. Every time we yelled "SHOOO!", they just kept coming in numbers, going "GAWK GAWK GAWK BLAAAAARUGH!" all the bloody time. In the end, we decided to just give fuckall towards the seagulls, but not before making a deal with them."

"What deal?" asked Bowser, raising his eyebrows.

"How did you even make a deal with birds?" further asked Sniper Mad John.

"BRETHREN! Aye did not know ye spoke a language of seagulls!" said Mosseau as he raised his empty bottles up in the air.

"You forgot to mention a lot of details, you credit-taking shartknuckle." complained Scrongus, tightening his fist in anger.

"Anyway, so the deal was basically this: no shitting on our ship and especially on Don's car, or else we would whack 'em with our Chicago typewriters." further elaborated Krongus.

"The thing with Tommies was MY IDEA!" yelled Scrongus as he raised his fist in the air.

"Ain't that a little too much? I mean sure seagulls can be pests a lot of times, but….massacring them?" questioned Brane as he scratched his head.

"Yeah, it's not like someone would order a seagull feast in the first place." added Bowser towards Brane's statement.

"Waste of bullets. Making waste out of birds won't make one's bones." said George with hands in his pockets. "Anyway, I'm still curious about the state of my car.".

Without another thought, Scrongus and Krongus ran towards the car and removed the tarp of it, revealing the Jag. The surface of it shined like a mirror under the sun, not a single stain or even a piece of dust was found on the car. George checked the now-revealed car, observing it like an eagle searching for its prey.

"Hmmm….Nice job, associates. For this, you two will get an equal large." praised George as he gave them each 21000 Kuna. Scrongus and Krongus lifted their fists in the air and gave each other a high-five.

"Now, shall we go on our journey and start con-exploring the world?" asked Bowser for reassurance.

"Yeah, but how will we go though?" pointed out George as he looked at the coast.

"….Urghh, sometimes I have to sacrifice my own pleasure for the sake of progression." groaned Bowser as he was about to jump of the ship and face the inevitable, but not before Sniper Mad John grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him.

"Wait, let me help, mate!" offered John as he was also about to jump off the ship.

"I suppose a little aid wouldn't hurt, but I doubt it's necessity." accepted Bowser as they leaped from the deck of the ship, landing on the beach. Predictably, Bowser's feet tasted pain from the pebbles and yelled in pain while John felt nothing, thanks to his shoes. They approached the approximate closest distance of the hull and Mad John put his arms on it, preparing for a push. However, for some reason, Bowser did not do that yet.

"On three! One! Two! T..." said John, but just as he was about to say three, Bowser suddenly pushed the ship like it was nothing and separated it from the coast. John, witnessing all of Bowser's actions, was left speechless. Just before he could say anything, Bowser grabbed him with his one arm and leaped towards the ship. Landing just in front of the Jag and Bendigo, he put down John as everyone watched. The ship slowly but surely steered away from the coast as they went in the direction of the Promajna, but they've got a visit from another similar looking but larger vessel that went in the same direction as them. The fishing boat was (over)filled with skeletons, with some of them being on the roof of the bridge.

"Eyy, boys! Our fellas are here!" one of them boneheads yelled as they looked at the crew of the opposite ship. "Get some of our boys there!"

As ships of similar classes approached each other as close as possible, some of the skeletal individuals started jumping over on the other side. For now, no skeleton was one the roof of the bridge. Few of the skeletons complimented the cars. Suddenly, one of the skeletons threw an overly large captain's uniform and a hat to Bowser as the boneman requested: "Put on this, boss!"

Bowser donned on his new clothes and posed like a macho superman.

"Hahah!" he chortled as he further flexed his muscles. "Now I look like an Admiral of the finest caliber!"

Meanwhile, Brane stood near the fence and waved towards his own homeland.

"Goodbye, my dear Croatia! I hope we see each other again!" said Brane, almost having tears in his eyes. He looked down at the floor and sighed. George and everyone else stepped near him and gave him a pat on his shoulder. "I know that feel, Brane. Sometimes, you've gotta go away from the things you love."

"Yeah….I know too…." added Bowser as he comforted Brane.

"Oi, it's been a while since I've resided in my home in Darwin. Gotta be honest, I've been missing that place." further added John.

"Me own country is not even sovereign anymore, for bloody Blue men of the Minch's sake. We were once the fiercest on the bloody Island until we got unified and now THEY have the crown, even though it was OUR RIGHT to fooken have it! We were the muscles and brains of the Isle!" ranted Mosseau as he took a "sip" (read: entire bottle) of Rakia. Cue everyone staring silently at him. "What?!"

And so they left Croatia and they didn't even taste sarma!

Hours have passed and now the boats of the skeleton men with their company cruised near the coast of Albania. Bowser was standing on the forecastle like a proud explorer while everyone just relaxed behind and discussed some stuff.

"So...You say you're a sniper, huh? Yet I haven't seen you carryin' any sniper rifles, but I do assume it's there." asked George as he pointed at John's briefcase.

"Oh? Lemme show you then!" said Sniper Mad John as he opened his suit case, revealing an engraved bolt action designated marksman rifle with a black scope on it and a diamond engraving on the handle of the fire arm.

"This is my custom-made bolt action sniper rifle. I call it Diamond Tom, after an inspiration of mine. Created it around in 1991 and I haven't used any other rifle ever since. It did replace my old scoped Mosin-Nagant though, which I've used ever since I joined the army. Speaking of Mosin-Nagant, my rifle is based around it, specifically scoped Mosin–Nagant M91/30 model. It's a good rifle all around I say, but it's not all in the rifle that matters. I've went through extensive training in ol' Straya for about 20 years to become one of the greatest snipers in the world, but I prefer to not boast." told Sniper Mad John, pointing out at the multiple components of his rifle.

"Custom-made? I see you are a man of refined taste as well. Allow me to show you one of my valued keepings." complimented George as he whipped out his silver revolver from his left pocket. "This is my most treasured assets, based around first generation Colt Single Action Army revolver. It passed on from my family line. I did a lil modifications of it, such as decreasin' the recoil and lengthenin' the barrel. Unlike you, it seems like I was a natural talent for gunslinging since I was a child. My mother always told me that I was just like one of my ancestors in the Old West. One of my ancestors gave it a name. It's called…..Silver Coyote. Honestly, I'm no fan of nicknamin' things, but I ain't changing the name of the gun."

"Oh, I see, but do you have any of those Thompsons? I haven't seen you wield one, despite you being a gangster." asked Mad John while still crouching near his Diamond Tom.

"Pfft, I have more Tommies than an Irish farmer has sheep on his farm. In fact, I've ordered two of my associates to stuff this boat with them as much as possible." answered George as he pointed on the bridge of the ship.

The conversation between them went right into Brane's ears, so he stepped right in. "Nice guns we're having here. Reminds me of those days when I was in JLA, in the Yugoslav Navy to be precise, before everything went downhill. Used to wield Zastava M70 back in the day. I think it's still there in Bendigo, but I could check later. During my time in navy, I realized my true potential….IN COOKING! So after my service, I followed my ambition to become THE BEST CROATIAN CHEF IN THE WORLD! My career so far, despite the first impression of yours, has been good. It's only recently that I've experienced the sour parts of my career."

"Oh nice, you've had two good jobs in your life time, though I think you would be better off with the former. Not to mention you had a choice. To be honest, the journey with him was my first official taste of the ocean." praised George as he put his Silver Coyote back into his pocket.

"Ah, the sea has been my life! The aroma of the waves will always entice a feeling of relaxation in me!" said Brane. Mosseau also heard the conversation, so he decided to roll in front of them and join the discussion. "Aye lads, ye talking about guns and stuff? Aye got a lot of stuff to show ye then!"

"Oh lord." sighed George in advance.

"Hey, Mosseau. Mind if you bring out that Kalashnikov for a moment? I wanna see something." requested Brane as he lifted his index finger.

"Of course, laddeh! Aye was about to show off me not-upgraded-yet weaponry first, but it seems like ye laddehs wanna see THE classic one." accepted Mosseau as he showed his AK-47 first, just like Brane asked for it. "Okay, so this guns needs no introduction, everyone with some fooken grasp in arms industry knows what a Kalashnikov is."

Brane inspected his rifle to find out that, contrary to his suspicion, is an authentic AK-47 and not some variant.

"Ah, I see it is a real one. I thought it was gonna be one of the Zastava variants. Say...where did you get one?" asked Brane after the examination.

"From a Bosnian black market, of course! Aye got it for like…..no dosh and 5 rakija bottles." answered Mosseau. Everyone, who participated in the discussion, just asked one thing silently:

"...how?".

"Okay so, Aye was wandering around some town in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Aye saw some arms dealer in the alleyway. He was not selling anything good. Stuff like spoons, shovels and ammunition crates for grenades were there. However, one item actually got me interest: this gun. Aye asked him about it, he said it was a 100% real one, but then Aye came to a horrible realization…..AYE HAD NO MONEY. So, with all resources Aye had got, Aye smacked a bunch of "ULTRA RARE AUTHENTIC BOSNIAN RAKIJA 100% REAL SHIT BOY!" stickers, which Aye made them me self, on ten of me bottles and gave one of them to him. They were flawless in terms of looking authentic like an old relic! He said he wanted 10 of the bottles, but I scammed him off there! Aye just had to give him one measly bottle. To prevent the questions such as "w-what happened to four other bottles?!"….well Aye drank them all and used the empty bottles for storing personalized Molotov's cocktails, that's what!" explained Mosseau while returning his AK-47 back into his trash can. Predictably, everyone was speechless. Just as about anyone was about to say something, Bowser stumped right in too.

"What'cha talking about, gentlemen?" he asked.

"Life and guns. Also Mosseau is showing his arsenal." said George. For a moment, Mosseau glared at him.

"Was that fookin usage of word intentional?!" the Scot thought to himself, thinking whether or not should he strangle someone. "Anyway, that's it for the untouched rifles. Now Aye gotta show ye my not-yet-upgraded selection of close range combat weaponry. Before Aye continue, does anyone of ye lads have any of interesting melee weapons?"

"Nope." quickly answered George as he shrugged off.

"Lets see….I have a swiss army knife, a regular knife, a duct tape, bagh naka, an axe and that's it." said Sniper Mad John as he pulled out everything he mentioned out of his pockets.

"Good choices, lad. It might be nice to expand your collection, but for now it's serviceable enough." endorsed Mosseau while giving a thumbs up to Jon.

"Do fists count?" asked Bowser while he stared at Sniper Mad John's display of melee weaponry.

"Sure, Aye guess." replied Mosseau with a pinch of uncertainty in his voice. After the answer, he brought up his giant claymore, which was more corrosive than an abandoned ship.

"This….is me oldest weapon. Aye had it since Aye was actually alive…..which is around late 10th century to early 11th century. Alas, me claymore is irrepairable, therefore it's just for the show and nostalgia." he said just before he returned his claymore back into his law-defying trash can. Next "weapon" for close range combat he brought up was a broken Rakija bottle. "Ye all know what this damn thing is. Moving on. However Aye should mention that it's"

Mosseau searched through his trash can once again, only to say: "Well, laddehs, the boring part is over. Time for the real shit."

With zero hesitation, he lifted one of his custom-made weapons up in the air. The weapon resembled a chainsaw crudely fused with an iron pipe. There was a button on the side of the "iron pipe" component of the weapon, presumably for revving up the chainsaw. Bloodstains were visible on the saw.

"WHAT IS THAT?!" Bowser desired to know while in state of absolute shock.

"For what purpose does it exist?" asked George while at the same time he groaned, almost putting his palm on his boney face.

"Now this...is me _de facto_ close range weapon for now. Aye call them SCROTUM SLAYER! It is a simple thing, aye, just a pipe and a chainsaw smacked together, but it is an efficient thing, Aye swear on The Great Blacksmith! I've made them IN HELL and oh me wee lads, it was fucking great! With these things, demons from the deepest layers of inferno became meaty, beef-scented piñatas filled with fireworks of blood and guts! Their organs were flying everywhere in hell, gyahahahaha! Sadly, the fun stopped when the Devil, humongous arsehole with a smelly gaping anus, kicked me out of Hell….again. So the bloodstains ye see there is demon blood!" said Mosseu with excitement in his eye….sockets. Everyone was just silent as usual.

"...Wow. I mean just….wow." said Bowser.

"Are you sure demons smelled exactly like beef?" asked Brane as he lifted his finger, possibly preparing to object Mosseau's….tale.

"It was an close approximation, but aye." answered Mosseau as he put his chainsaws back in his trash can. "Anyway, that's all Aye can show ye. Some weapons, be it ranged or melee, are for…..urgent situations."

"So this world has a lot of cool weapons I see! I wonder how different would be in my world if I somehow managed to bring those arms there...if that would be even possible (gotta keep it E for Everyone I guess)." mused Bowser.

"Oh! You haven't told about what kind of weapons you own in your world! Please, mind if you tell us?" requested Sniper Mad John.

"GLADLY!" approved Bowser as he prepared to strike a boastful pose while he was about to explain. "Okay so….Most of the weapons my troops use are nothing special. I have like hammers, boomerangs, sledge hammers, fire balls, occasionally ice balls and magic, however the latter is only reserved for Magikoopas, basically like my advisor, who gave me the wand."

Hearing the word "boomerang" made John's eyebrows rise.

"However, I also have walking bombs and giant bullets as a part of my army as well! They're also homing!" continued Bowser as he made gestures to enrich his own speech.

"Homing giant bullets? Are you sure those aren't missiles?" questioned Sniper Mad John.

"N-no, they are bullets! They are shaped like one! I even made even BIGGER versions of it!" Bowser attempted to clarify his statement.

"I'm sorry, but are you secretly making shells for Schwerer Gustav or something, mate?" asked Sniper Mad John while being absolutely baffled.

"….What?!" What or who is this Schwerer Gustav you are talking about?" said Bowser as he tried to understand what John meant.

"The largest railway gun ever built. It was one of the "wonder weapons" from Germany during the darkest period of the human history." elaborated Mad John.

"RAILWAY GUN?! BIGGEST GUN?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" shouted Bowser with his body trembling in complete shock.

"Nope, I am not making this up, mate."

"HOLY MOTHER OF….SCHNITZEL! Dang, I thought I was THE ONE who made biggest weapons, but then it turns out this world is MILES AHEAD OF ME!" grumbled Bowser as he crossed his arms in jealousy of the creators of Gustav.

"Wait, when did Germany build such a weapon?" piqued George, being a bit out of touch.

"In the 40's." said Jon as quickly as possible.

"So after my "death"...How? Didn't a loaf of bread cost around 1 million marks? " further asked George.

"A lot of things changed during those times. The consequences of those...changes are still felt today." uttered Sniper Mad Jon in a rather melancholic tone.

"I am not sure if I desire to know." said George as he tipped his hat to obscure his face from the sun.

"...What happened during those times?" asked Bowser once again with his eyes being wide and irises shrunk.

"Bows no offense, but I do not think you are prepared to hear more about this subject. I'm just gonna give a little gist: the whole world was up in the arms." interfered Brane to prevent any overthinking on Bowser's behalf.

"Again?" asked George as he tipped his hat again, this time decreasing the shadow on his face.

"….While I desire to know more, I think that gist made a lot of things clear." said Bowser as he suddenly brought up a piece of paper and a pencil. It was written:

"BOWSER'S AWESOME PLAN!

-Defeat Mario and Luigi at all costs.

-Get and marry Princess Peach.

-Take over Mushroom Kingdom.

-Get a new, updated army.

-Take over the new world somehow. Start gradually.

-DON'T LET ANY OTHER POSERS TAKE OVER YOUR ROLE AS THE MAIN VILLAIN!

-Become greater than Alexander the Great.

-Become richer than Sheikh.

-Avoid NATO at all costs.".

He, as clumsily he handed the pencil due paper not laying on a solid surface, added to his list:

"-During the ultimate conquest, don't start a war with every nation involved.

-Build a bigger gun than Schwerer Gustav.".

"There we go." he said like he was proud of doing something small.

"Aye have got a question for ye, Bows!" interrupted Mosseau.

"Mosseau! I have a question for you too! If it's something about me, I'll let you ask first!" said Bowser.

"What's kind of vehicles do ye have in yer army? Aye mean for every branch ye have." he asked out of a sudden.

"Hmmmm….well for land forces I have tanks in my army. Personally I have some cars in my inventory as well, but most of them are used for racing. For my naval forces I use ships and something that even I cannot spill the beans about it, however I've been thinking about including it in my new army once we settle down somewhere." answered Bowser. The last thing mentioned caught everyone's interest on the ship. "For the air force I have hundreds of airships!".

"Airships as in blimps or…?" asked Jon.

"Airships as in flying ships. You know, like this one, but flying!" elaborated Bowser.

"PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT, aerial target practice!" laughed Mosseau as he smacked the part of his trash can.

"WHAT?! OH don't tell me about it! I already know how this conversation is going to go: "hahah Bowser your army is so outdated! This world's wonder weapons will wreck you in seconds". WON'T IT!?" protested Bowser as he rolled his eyes.

"Lad…...THE MOST BASIC OF WEAPONS, BE IT AERIAL, LAND BASED OR NAVAL, would absolutely annihilate yer entire air force in miliseconds! Sorry, laddeh, but ye gotta adapt, just like Aye did!" clarified Mosseau as he kept laughing. Brane and Jon glared at Mosseau, with former lifting his finger towards him, making him stop laughing.

"..Aye might went a bit too hard on ye, Bows. Aye apologize."

"...T-that was just low. Real low. I'll a-attempt to bring one of the airships here, along with my secret vehicle, just to test your statement! However that sorta ruined my motivation to talk more about my army." mumbled Bowser as he looked at the floor.

"Cheer up, Bows! There's always a room for improvement." consoled Brane as he gave him a pat on his shell.

"The path might be long and tedious, but we will get there, mate. I swear!" Jon also joined in comforting Bowser.

"Never said that ye should toss away yer dreams of a conqueror. Aye just said that ye gotta adapt." said Mosseau to lighten up the mood.

"The fact that you broke out of your status quo and got there is already an improvement." added George for the final word.

"...Thanks guys." said Bowser, slightly cheered up after the group's consoling. "Anyway….I have this question for you, Mosseau….Who was Alexander the Great and what exactly made him so great?"

"Oh, Alexander the Great? He was not only the king of Macedonia, a hegemon of Hellenic League, Pharaoh of Egypt and the king of Persia, which at the time was the arch-nemesis of Ancient Greece, but also the Lord of Asia! During his reign, he kept expanding his rule through out the world and had not his soldiers become homesick, he would probably take over the world with ease. He made every enemy shiver in their pants just by being there! The absolute thing that made him so great, aside from connecting Greece with the Orient and establishing many cities named after him, was the fact he never lost a battle in his life!"

"…..Could you repeat that again?" Bowser suddenly went silent after hearing what Mosseau said.

"He! Never! Lost! A! Single! Battle! In! His! Life!" emphasised Mosseau just for him.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! HOW?! HOW IS IT POSSIBLE!? WHAT MAGIC DID HE USE?! HOOOOOW?!" screamed Bowser with all his might.

"It's simple really. He was just...so great. Granted there are a lot of great conquerors through out history, but he came up first in me head so...yeah." muttered Mosseau as he was about to take a sip from one of his bottles.

"Darn, I'm already disqualified." thought Bowser to himself, imagining a battlefield surrounded by fire and filled with corpses on the floor and ruins of the ancient buildings, facing enormous Alexander The Great riding a horse filled with destruction and warfare, wielding a giant spear and having thousand of phalanxes behind his back, himself. The wind carried the smoke through out the entire (imagined) battlefield, which covered the entire sky. "I WILL GET YOU, ALEXANDER THE GREAT!"

"Speaking of conquering, how come for your interest in it?" asked Brane.

"Hmmmm...HMMMM…...Honestly, I have never thought about it too much, but ever since I was a kid, I've always felt like this was my destiny. To become the king of all as if stars told me or something. The desire for conquest was always in my blood….Do you get what I'm saying?" said Bowser. Everyone nodded in agreement and for some time, they talked about random stuff.

Few hours have passed, bordering almost evening and them cruising through the calm yet warm Mediterranean sea, near the mainland Greece. Just as before, Bowser was standing on the forecastle like an eager explorer while everyone else was scattered around the ship, but it was generally silent this time. However, the silence ended one George, flipping his coin out of boredom, asked:

"Hey, now that we have a lot more associates, I suppose we should establish our own organization or somethin'.".

"Precisely!" said Bowser as he turned towards George and everyone else. "But how would we name it…..Hmmmmm…..How about….BOWSER'S SUPREMELY AWESOME ELITE GROUP!"

"Hey, just a little pro tip: never name your morally dubious organization with your own name." objected George within second.

"And why is it that? Is it too "KITSCHY" or something?!" groaned Bowser.

"If any of the law enforcement groups or any other mafias start searchin' for you, they'll know exactly where to look at. Haven't told anyone about this but this is one of the reasons why I suggested you to avoid Italy, especially Sicily. You wouldn't want someone like NATO to find you out and eliminate you, would you?" George explained himself. Hearing the word "NATO" made Bowser shiver a bit.

"….Touche." sighed Bowser without an ability to refute George's point. "How about something simple...like….Skeleton Mafia!"

"….I like it. It's short, but it gets to the point. No overly long kitsch, just...Skeleton Mafia." said George as he made finger guns at Bowser.

"FINALLY, GEORGE LIKES SOMETHING I ADVISE! YESSS!" yelled Bowser as he pumped up his fists, making everyone look at him. "W-what?"

With exception of George, who at the very least smiled, everyone chortled at him. Bowser, not taking the gesture as a personal attack, laughed too. Suddenly, they got interrupted by the voices of their own boney workers:

"Eyy boss, we need food!"

"Of course!" said Brane as he bum-rushed inside the bridge, looking for the nearest kitchen.

"Say...who's gonna be the boss?" asked Sniper Mad John. Bowser was already pointing at himself after hearing John's question.

"First of all, it's Don. Second of all, I think we have only option and that is Bowser." answered George, much to Bowser's suprise.

"Really? To be honest I expected this to drag out but…..NICE!" said Bowser.

"It's not because the situation is dire or somethin'. It's because otherwise you would constantly complain about not being the Don." clarified George as he crossed his arms.

"Bah, come on! I wouldn't do such a thing! Prove it!" scoffed Bowser as he attempted to chuckle.

"Okay" said George as he made a gesture with his hands like he was about to deliver a package. "I'm the boss now, see?"

A moment of silence followed after George's statement. Everyone on the boat stared at Bowser, waiting patiently for his response. Bowser closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"George...may I, please, pretty please, become the leader instead?" asked Bowser politely, much to surprise his entire squad.

"Tch! You're actin'." abruptly blurted George while crossing his arms. "I'm in no mood prolongin' this, so be the leader."

"Darn, how did he figure it out so easily?!" thought Bowser to himself, but it quickly went away as he announced: "Now that we have a Don, Don Bowser in fact, we need a MOTTO!"

"….Sure?" said George while being curious for the suggestions.

"Oh, I have one!" suggested Brane as he lifted his index finger high up in the air. "What about: "Better live one hundred years a millionaire than seven days in misery!"

"Blatant, but very true." commented George.

"Hmmm, it should work for the Skeleton Mafia motto. Now I need my own personal motto because I like those! I am going to recycle some of the words I said to my skeletal associates." affirmed Bowser as he scratched his chin, further thinking about boastful quotes and sayings.

"Aye laddeh, Aye have one just fer ye!" requested Mosseau as he lifted his bottle up in the air. Bowser's eyebrow raised as he looked at him.

"Veni, vidi, vici!"

"...What does that mean?" asked Bowser.

Mosseau giddily rubbed his hands and cracked his fists. "Those were the words of Julius Caesar, a conqueror! They're in Latin, so if we translate them they would mean: "I came, I saw, I **conquered**!".

" **CONQUERED!"**

Suddenly, a rather metaphorical explosion of enlightenment and excitement happened inside of Bowser's brain with a voice echoing "conquered" through out his entire body.

"YES, IT'S PERFECT!" shouted Bowser as he clenched his fist and raised it up the air. "Conquerors always deliver such good quotes!"

"Ey boys, land ahoy! Mind if we take a rest here?" asked Brane as he pointed out a rather huge island, surrounded by the shiny beaches and crystal clear water, in front of their noses. No one minded Brane's idea, so they decided to take a rest and park the ship nearest port. The port, filled with smaller boats and sailships of different kinds, had a fortress located in it. The fortress itself, despite looking very antique, was rather in good condition. The current flagship of Skeleton mafia separated their ways from the additional ship with their boney workforce on it and parked. All of them jumped off the ship and started exploring the city, which was just right ahead. The city itself was filled with colorful flats and small white houses with blue domed roofs on them. Roads were well paved as well. Despite looking like an ideal vacation spot, only things they encountered were empty cars. Aside from their footsteps (and in Mosseau's case, wheel rolling), only thing that made a sound was a slight breeze. Every market place had absolutely nothing but dust for sale and even that wasn't always guaranteed. During their walk, they have noticed a rather big, dried out stain on one of the flats.

"...Odd." exclaimed Sniper Mad John while observing the city during the walk.

"Was it supposed to look like this or what?" asked Bowser while being boggled by Mad John's observation.

"Quite the opposite. It was supposed to be filled with tourists." John cleared himself as all of them continued their journey. Suddenly, George stepped on a thing, which has rolled off away from his shoe. He picked it up and it turned out it was a bullet almost as as big as his palm.

".50 BMG? What is it even doin' here?" wondered George as he took a in depth look at the bullet.

"Um, did we walk into a war zone?" gulped Brane as he brushed off the sweat from his forehead.

"Doesn't seem so. If it was a war zone, it would be thundering everywhere." reassured John, much to Brane's relief, but it the relief did not fully appear yet.

As they marched further, a piece of paper, delivered by the breeze, directly hit Bowser's face. Annoyed by this, he quickly took it off from his face and took a look at it along with his team. The paper had a stylized image of a bull with "WANTED **DESTROYED** : _**MINOTAUR**_ " written above the image. Below the image it was written:

" **NEUTRALIZE THE THREAT AT ALL COSTS. DO NOT HESITATE** **USING DIRTY TACTICS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF THIS FOUL BEAST. REWARD WILL BE ANYTHING** **FOR THE HERO WHO SLAYS THE DREADED MENACE OF CRETE."**

"...Minotaur? The hell?" blurted George as he saw the text.

"How?! I thought this creature was just in mythology!" said Brane as he grabbed his head in anxiety.

"OHOHOHOHOHO!" chuckled Mosseau as he was preparing his arsenal in advance.

"What?!" spurted Bowser as his irises shrunk again.

Just before John could react to the leaflet, he heard footsteps behind him.

"Something is behind us! Quickly, stay on guard!" warned Sniper Mad John as everyone prepared their positions for defense. Bowser raised his fists and so did Brane and John while George grabbed his Silver Coyote in his pocket. Meanwhile Mosseau was already holding one of his chainsaw-on-a-iron-pipe weapons. The footsteps were getting louder, increasing the self defense preparedness of the group. Suddenly, a squad of soldiers, having lizard-patterned uniforms, appeared from one of the alleyways and ambushed them. The sudden move startled the group and made them lose guard, however George kept his calm and pulled out his revolver and pointed it at them. Sniper Mad John quickly dropped his fists and he grabbed his Uzi out of his jacket.

"Do not fire!" yelled one of the soldiers as he raised his arm. The soldiers stood still as they pointed their Heckler & Koch G3's rifles at them with their fingers steadily on the trigger.

"….Hey, how many shots of Daniel's did you have in the morning?" quietly said one of the soldiers to his colleague, being baffled at the sight of Bowser's group.

"None." stoically replied his colleague.

"WHAT?! DO I LOOK LIKE A MINOTAUR TO YOU?!" shouted Bowser at them while flailing his fists.

"Negative. However, you shall explain why aren't you somewhere safe. Not too long ago a curfew was announced thanks to the menace of Crete." elaborated one of the soldiers as they lowered their weapons.

"Excuse me, but we were not aware of the affairs here. We apologize for the misunderstanding we created." interfered Sniper Mad John as he held the ground of Skeleton Mafia.

"We should get you somewhere safe, like in a shelter. Come with us!" recommended one of the soldiers to them as he waved.

"Nah, no need to. In fact, we're gonna defeat that minotaur by ourselves!" declared Bowser, which he received weird looks from everyone, from his group to soldiers. "What?!"

"Are you being serious?! It's too dangerous! Even we, the Hellenic Army, couldn't fully neutralize it and it took us everything we have in our equipment, but it always escapes to its hideout." cautiously advised one of the soldiers.

"Yes! Trust me, I've dealt with worse monsters in my life. One measly bull man is gonna be a piece of cake!" boastfully reassured Bowser as he flexed his muscles. "In terms of power, nothing overcomes my muscles!"

"Daunting, but commendable. If you are determined to give our country assistance, then we shall support you without hesitation!" said one of the soldiers as he shook hands with Bowser's group. "Optimally, we could start the operation against Minotaur tomorrow in the morning. We must not let it terrorize Heraklion ever again!"

"No problem! Tomorrow we shall do it! That bull is gonna get its posterior sent right to the Moon!" boasted Bowser as he put his arms on his hips.

"Just one question." said Sniper Mad John as he lifted his finger. "How did Minotaur get here in the first place?"

"Unfortunately, most of the information behind this subject, such as capabilities and performance, is not for public ears, so we cannot share it with unauthorized personnel. However, we can offer you a glimpse of it." explained one of the soldiers. "Apparently it was created by one of those paramilitary contractors as a deterrent in Cyprus, basing it off the mythological Minotaur. Unfortunately, the entire thing went haywire when it gained consciousness on its own and started the reign of terror on Crete. I hope that explains enough."

"I see. Thank you for the information. "said Sniper Mad John as Bowser's group and Hellenic soldiers saluted to each other and departed with the former looking for a decent resting place. However, one thought couldn't just leave John's brain: Why were talking about it like a vehicle?

Next day, when the sun just rose up in the sky, the gang was driving their across the small, filled with small Mediterranean trees hills to reach their ultimate destination:

Knossos.

A few of their skeletons, which were armed with Tommy gun's, were accompanying them. The journey from Heraklion to Knossos did not take long, since the distance between these two locations was relatively short and after they found the site, they parked their Bendigo near the entrance. Bowser, Sniper Mad John, George and Mosseau stepped outside while Brane and his skeletal companions decided to stay inside the Bendigo.

"I'm gonna find a good spot, mates." said Sniper Mad John as he departed from the group, doing exactly what he said. The rest of the gang marched through the entrance of the archeological site, observing generally well kept ruins of the once migthy Minoan palace. Parts of the palace were held by the vividly red pillars and the walls, some of them having a bit of rubble on them, gave the ruins a shiny glow under the sun. Aside from Bowser's group, there was no sign of a single soul on the site, despite being formerly a pretty popular tourist site. However, some walls had signs of stains, similar to one seen in Heraklion. Knowing that Minotaur won't appear outside by itself, they started exploring the interior of the palace. Inside of palace was enriched by the vibrant paintings on the walls, usually with the motif of dolphins and Minoan civilization. However, one painting stood out to them: three inadequately clothed men fighting a bull, with one of them seemingly trying to suplex the maddened animal.

"I'm not sure if this painting is just coincidental or prophetic. As much as former is more likely, I love imaging the second." mused Bowser as he observed the painting.

"There's a lack of turtle, though." commented George.

"Drat! They should make a similar one, but with me suplexing the bull instead!" grumbled Bowser while imaging the painting with him.

"Aye got no time for art discussions, laddehs. AYE GOTTA MAKE SOME MINOAN GRILLED BEEF INSTEAD!" yelled Mosseau as they continued exploring the palace. After some time has passed, they found a rather peculiar entrance with staircase leading downward. A dusty lonesome helmet occupied the place near the entrance with few bullets laying near it.

"So...who's gonna risk it?" asked George as he looked deep into the darkness.

"Bloody obvious!" boasted Mosseau as he was about to roll down the staircase. "Anyone going with me?"

"OF COURSE!" shouted Bowser as he joined with Mosseau, stomping down the staircase. With each step, the stairs crumbled a bit. After going through utter darkness, it turned out they found themselves in some kind of labyrinth. Mosseau pulled out one of his unused metal bars and ordered Bowser to light it up, to which he complied. He also brought up a bag of cocaine, to which he penetrated it with his finger and put it on the edge on the trash can.

"What are you even trying to do ?!" asked Bowser rather loudly.

"It will make our job just a wee easier, Bows!" replied Mosseau as they started their search for the beast in the labyrinth. Corridor by corridor, they wandered while looking at, contrary to the rest of the ruins of palace, dry and lifeless walls of the maze. With every step, a small amount of cocaine fell on the ground, creating a trail. The time passed, but there was no sight of the beast, not even a sound.

"Bloody hell, it's been so long yet that shite eating twat hasn't appeared yet." grumbled Mosseau as he whipped out one of his chainsaws out of his trash can.

"So….any ideas?" asked Bowser as he crossed his arms, looking at him.

"Aye, we gotta resort to a bit of a risky technique." said Mosseau as he smirked. Bowser just stared at him, waiting about the technique he was going to show.

"AYE FUCKER, GET YER ARSE OUT AND SHOW YERSELF! I'LL TURN YE FROM A BULL INTO AN OX!"

Mosseau's voice echoed through out the entire labyrinth, yet they were only greeted by the silence.

"Mind if I join?" requested Bowser, impressed by Mosseau's yelling capabilities.

"Of course!" accepted Mosseau as he raised his weapon up in the air. Bowser then took a deep breath and yelled:

"HEY, STUPID COWMAN! COME OVER HERE AND FIGHT US, COWARD!"

Bowser's shouting, just like his colleague's, received no response.

"Drat!" shouted Bowser as he clenched his fist.

"Eeeh, aye tell ya what, he's gonna appear any second now." said Mosseau as they continued their search. "Any second."

Suddenly, a massive iron axe swooped down right in front of their noses, completely catching them off guard as they jumped in the air. The impact of the axe made not only the labyrinth, but the entire site rumble and tremble. As the dust settled from the strike, a giant mechanical head resembling a bull's skull, which seemed to have a menacing grin, but protected with relatively thick armor on it appeared behind the wall with its glowing red, soulless eye staring right at the duo. However, the jaw and the horns had no armor on them.

"Y-YOU'RE MINOTAUR?" stuttered Bowser as he was completely in shock due the sight of the alleged Minotaur.

"Oh...OH! Yer one….sexy motherfucker, aren't ye?" taunted Mosseau while being kind of surprised at the appearance of Minotaur's head as he pulled out one of his custom made chainsaw weapons and a AK-47. "Come at us, ye ballsless damned demon from the deepest depths of piss-drinking Hell!"

After the moment of shock went away, Bowser quickly put up fists in the air as he waggled his finger, taunting the Minotaur. In response, Minotaur only roared:

"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

It lifted up its own axe and started slowly approaching Bowser and George, revealing its full appearance. It dwarfed Bowser in height with its entire torso being covered in thick, charcoal grey colored armor. Arms and legs were defended with the slightly less thick armor as well, even the joints were protected. The feet resembled those of a metallic boot, rather than a bull's hoof. With each stomp closer to them, the entire labyrinth trembled. It was holding its giant iron axe like a bloodthirsty lumberjack, ready to chop down someone. Bowser and Mosseau started slowly walking back, following the trail of cocaine they prepared themselves for any attack.

Mosseau put his chainsaw back as he fully embraced his AK-47 and fired the bullets at the menace itself, but most of the bullets ricochet from the bull's armor, damaging the walls instead. Bowser spat out a decently sized fireball at it, engulfing it and a part of the corridor in flames, yet Minotaur unflinchingly walked towards them, chuckling at their attempt to stall his progress. In response, the Minotaur sped up, almost running towards them. Surprised at the sudden increase of velocity, they flat out started running backwards, but luckily for them, the exit was just few steps ahead as the trail of cocaine ceased to be. Both of them left the labyrinth and waited the Minotaur right in front of the entrance with Mosseau being in front. He had his arms in his trash can as he eagerly grinned, ready to throw something at it, whatever it was. Meanwhile, Bowser fired another fireball at the staircase, causing flames so that he could hope for the stall the Minotaur. The stomping was getting louder and louder as the palace started to shake. The flames on the staircase waved in the air like a maddened flag in the wind.

Out of a sudden, two glowing dots from a dark, bull-like figure appeared from the fire as the Minotaur climbed the staircase while, as like before, seemingly unaffected by fire. Each step felt like a precision guided bomb going off. Just as the Minotaur finished climbing the staircase, Mosseau whipped out two Vickers water cooled machine guns, fused with iron bars.

"WHAT?!" yelled Bowser as he saw Mosseau's two secret weapons.

"GYAHAHAHAHAHA! EAT LEAD N' SHITE, LADDEH" he yelled as he fired his Vickers' in quick rafales, hitting the Minotaur almost everywhere. While some of the bullets did penetrate a bits of the armor, most of the bullets bounced off, minimally affecting Minotaur's approaching. It lifted its massive axe as it was about to cut Mosseau in half, but he dodged the swing by briefly hiding in the trash can and rolling away, just before he continued filling Minotaur with bullets. Suddenly, George flanked the Minotaur and fired his Thompson at him, with bullets still ricocheting because of its armor. It noticed his attempts to bring it down and started running towards him with a psychotic expression vaguely resembling a smile, but it stopped once it felt and impact from Bowser's fist in the area where ribs should be.

"YOU!" shouted Bowser as the dreaded mechanical bullman looked at his eyes, still smiling like a psychopath. "COME AT ME, CHUMP"

The Minotaur ran towards the Bowser as he prepared his axe for the next attack. It swung its axe once again, but Bowser ducked down and jabbed him right in his right foot. The blade of the axe impacted the floor, causing vibrations through out the whole site. Mosseau and George moved their positions towards the entrance of the site, waiting for Bowser to bait Minotaur there and continued to fire at Minotaur, but to no avail. Just as Minotaur lifted up his axe with both of his hands, Bowser started to slowly follow his colleagues. The Minotaur started charging towards Bowser once again, lifting his axe. Bowser prepared his position to dodge his attack and counter him back. Just as he thought he was going to use the axe, suddenly Minotaur rammed with his horns, catching Bowser completely off guard and sending him flying forward. Bowser rolled a bit from the impact and landed on his stomach, before he picked himself up. Minotaur cackled with its deep, brooding voice at Bowser, agitating him in the process. Bowser charged towards Minotaur as the latter prepared its weapon, ready to strike him when the moment comes. Just as it was about to hit Bowser with an axe, Bowser stepped aside from the strike and punched him directly in the torso, but Minotaur just scoffed off the punch. As it prepared for another strike, a bullet from the unknown direction hit it right in its horns, making it flinch and leaving an opportunity for Bowser to strike again, to which he did not waste it, but instead of aiming it for the torso he aimed it for the head. Due the impact, the Minotaur took few steps back before it stabilized itself. It looked at the direction of the bullet which hit its horns. It turned out it came from Diamond Tom as Sniper Mad John was laying on some hill near the site, looking at the scope and aiming.

"Here you have it, you bloody bastard." he mumbled as he continued observing the whole situation. The Minotaur looked at Bowser once again, charging at him while swinging his axe like a madman. Bowser kept walking backwards in order to dodge its attacks, but one swing did hit him and he was launched off from the impact once again. Bowser once again attempted to get Minotaur to the entrance as he rolled off in his shell, to which Minotaur followed with a grin on its skull-like face. George and Mosseau kept firing, but this time towards the head. Some of the bullets, while they did not penetrate the horns, did hit them, making Minotaur flinch every time an impact happened. Mosseau and George started circling around it to distract it. However, Minotaur refused to be distracted by them, as it considered Bowser to be a bigger threat as it once again charged towards Bowser. As the axe was swung once again, Bowser dodged it and punched the Minotaur, but this time in his left hand, making him loose grip from the axe. Bowser grabbed one of the ends of the axe and he slammed Minotaur with his horns, which made it take a few steps backwards, but it did not lose the grip of the axe. Bowser smashed his head once again, only for him to feel the impact of Minotaur's skull. They pushed each other with their head, but out of a sudden Minotaur kicked Bowser and sent him flying to the nearest wall. The velocity and the force of Bowser's impact made an entire wall crumble.

"H-HOW!?" screamed Bowser as he barely picked himself up, glaring at the cackling Minotaur. It shifted its attention towards George and Mosseau and started chasing them with its borderline mini earthquake causing sprint.

"Reinforcements!" called George as he with Mosseau started avoiding Minotaur's sprint towards them. They continued to fire, despite the Minotaur shrugging off most of the bullets and even the ones who penetrated his armor did not to stop his rampage.

Bowser started building up fire inside his mouth, to the point of bright flames bursting out. Once he couldn't handle the heat, he fired a massive fireball at the Minotaur at the high speed. Just as the Minotaur was about to slash two of Bowser's colleagues, the fireball hit him with such force that it almost fell down, but it kept itself together and targeted his sight towards Bowser. It sprinted towards Bowser, but it detected another bullet from Diamond Tom, so it caught it mid air by its mouth and threw it towards trash can, hitting just at the right angle of it so that it bounced right into Bowser's arm.

"OUCH!" he yelled as he flinched as the bullet dug in his skin, making him bleed. Just as he painfully removed the bullet, Minotaur was just in front of him, ready to slice him in half, but was ambushed by the Bendigo, driven by Brane as his companions fired from their Brownings. After the arrival of Bendigo a bunch of skeletons armed with Tommies joined in for assistance as they fired at the Minotaur. Mosseau and George ceased firing as they saw the van rolling in for assistance. The bullets from M2 not only hit the Minotaur in the torso, but also consistently penetrated his armor, constantly making it flinch with every impact. Bowser saw an opportunity and grabbed its axe and ripping it from his hands. Now in the possession of the axe, Bowser maliciously chuckled as he lit the entire axe on fire. Minotaur gasped in shock as it saw what he did to his precious weapon. Bowser ran towards the raging beast and started hitting it with the flaming axe as the beast was showered with bullets with his arm bleeding. While the blows from the burning axe didn't cut through the armor, the blunt hits from it did make Minotaur almost fall as it screamed in pain. Suddenly, as Bowser was ready to hit again, Minotaur grabbed the burning axe and attempted to rip it from Bowser's grasp. Clashing for the possession of the weapon, two of them stared each other in the eyes as Minotaur fumed in pure rage.

"….GWAHAHAHA! Now let's see how you will handle THIS, CHUMP!" laughed Bowser as he started bending the axe. Just as the Minotaur was about to both kick him and headbutt him at the same time, Bowser, with all his power remaining, broke its axe in half. The kick did hit Bowser and sent him flying, but there was no way at the moment to recover the axe in its former form. At the same time, the ones in charge of the Brownings in Bendigo started reloading them, preparing for the next salvo as it circled around Minotaur.

"Hahah! Now you've got nothing! In a fist fight, I SHALL DESTROY YOU, PUNK!" boasted Bowser as he barely stood up and raised his fists, preparing for a charge.

The Minotaur stomped in pure rage as the whole site shook once again. Steaming from its nose, Minotaur looked at Bowser with its "irises" shrunk and roared:

" **MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO** -Damned be all! I'm done being archaic!"

"WHAT?!" everyone besides the bull yelled as they were shocked of the sudden transition from the primal roaring to a deep, synthetic brooding voice coming from its mouth. The Minotaur suddenly grabbed his left hand and ripped it off from its arm, throwing the hand directly to Bowser's head. The hand hit Bowser's head with great force, stunning him in the process as he dizzily lumbered around the battlefield. A giant machine gun was fitted inside his arm. George and Mosseau returned back as they started to fire against Minotaur again. It looked at their general direction as it prepared its machine gun for combat.

"Now you shall all be sent to the deepest depths of the underworld for daring to intervene the reign of the Neo Millennium Minotaur Mark I." it threatened as it fired salvos upon salvos on them, with George and Mosseau barely escaping the bullet storm unleashed on them. It changed its attention towards Bendigo as its target only started to fire and circle around it now. The Minotaur fired rafales on the Bendigo, with some of the bullets even hitting it. One of the bullets managed to bust one of the skeleton's leg, who was behind one of the Brownings. The skeleton lost his grip on the gun as he fell down on the floor.

"REINFORCEMENTS! WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS ASAP!" yelled Brane at the custom-made walkie talkie near the steering wheel as he saw the fall of the skeleton. As the Minotaur kept firing at Bendigo, Bowser started charging towards it with him even spinning his fist, but Minotaur noticed his attempts for the offense as it slammed his right hand to the floor just as Bowser was about to punch him from behind, culminating in a big explosion. The blast startled Bowser as it completely ruined his tempo. The shock waves from it were strong enough to make some of the walls crumble. As the dust settled, it was revealed to him that the Minotaur had a grenade launcher fitted in his right arm.

"WHAT EVEN ARE YOU?!" yelled Bowser at Minotaur while being shocked at his arsenal.

"Haven't you heard, foolish turtle? I am Neo Millennium Minotaur Mark I., the reincarnation of the almighty figure of Minoan civilization! Your attempts to bring me down are equally pathetic as futile! Now face the inevitable: your painful demise!" boasted Minotaur as it fired grenades at him. Bowser kept running away from the explosions of grenades, with shrapnels hitting him from behind. Now that Bowser got away from its way, it focused its attention on Bendigo once again, unleashing bullets and grenades on him. None of the grenades managed to score a direct impact on the circling Bendigo, but the shrapnels were penetrating through the glass of it, damaging those inside of it and the bullets that kept hitting it managed to go through its armor, making the whole armored van look like swiss cheese more and more. One of the shrapnels managed to hit one of the tires, slowing down the van. Skeletons had to cease fire in order to reload their guns. Brane was sweating through out the whole battle. In the process, the Minotaur kept laughing like a madman.

"Fucking cunt!" yelled Mosseau as he charged towards the Minotaur while getting approximately in close distance, but it responded with a powerful kick, negating his charge completely. The flying Mosseau hit one of the walls as he left a mark on it and fell down. Bowser managed to trip over some stone and fell down directly on his face. A pool of blood was created from his arm. Minotaur immediately noticed the fallen turtle and pointed its grenade launcher at him, ready to blast him to the heavens and above.

"Farewell, disgraceful bacteria." said the Minotaur as he chuckled, preparing the shell for firing as Bowser attempted but continuously failed to stand up and continue to fight.

Suddenly, a projectile coming from an unknown position, hit the grenade launcher that Minotaur was just about to fire, culminating in a huge explosion. It ripped the entire right arm of his into pieces as Neo Millennium Minotaur Mark I screeched in pure agony.

"HOW?! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?" screamed Minotaur as it looked around for the source of the projectile. A ray of hope shined through the minds of Bowser's group as they saw what happened to the beast they were attempting to slay.

"Our boys are comin' in, see!" announced George in amidst of the chaos.

Suddenly, far away from the site, three of the Leopard 2A6 HEL main battle tanks of the Hellenic army stormed to the battle zone. Apparently, the projectile came from the one that fired it midair. Fast as the wind, they shook the ground with the force of thousand guns. Minotaur's jaw dropped when it saw the thundering machines of war coming right at him. It tried to run away to the of labyrinth of his, but he tripped over due Bowser's sudden headbutt right in its knee from behind, using all the strength he had. Bowser grabbed Minotaur's leg and spun him around like a propeller going loose.

"So long, Neo Millennium Minotaur Mark Absolute 0!" taunted Bowser as he smashed Minotaur to the floor. The impact crippled one of the Minotaur's legs, making it even harder for it to stand up. Just as the Minotaur was about to succeed in picking itself up, another shell from the Leopards hit him in the back, crippling it even more and leaving a huge hole on his back.

"You fiend! The gods of Olympus will eternally damn you for this!" cursed Minotaur as he crawled to kill his adversary with anything he had remaining in one piece. Bowser walked in front of its face and chuckled at its state.

"So….nice of you to damage my arm….and whatever else you damaged in your life. But now…." mumbled Bowser as he furiously but at the same time smugly glared at Minotaur while cracking his fists.

"You have my permission to be wrecked."

Bowser grabbed the horns of the beyond damaged bullman as he smashed him around the floor The armor started to receive cracks from the hits and its bulletproof glass for eyes started to break down. For the finale, Bowser threw the Minotaur high up in the air and spat out a huge fireball, aiming for the flying bull. Luckily, one of the shots fired by the Leopards managed to hit it midair. Suddenly, a bunch of soldiers of the Hellenic Army stormed the place, only to witness a descending mess of a fireball in front of their eyes.

"Holy fuck from the gods!" said Mosseau as he, along with the rest of Bowser's gang, witnessed the whole ordeal. Rest of the gang was left speechless. The soldiers as well as everyone else not named Bowser evaded from the incoming fireball as it crashed down on the site, resulting in a high field explosion with shrapnels and flames flying all over the site, damaging some of the palace. Despite all of this, what remained of the Minotaur attempted to crawl away to its hideout, but Bowser, having a psychotic smirk on his face, grabbed its head and ripped it from its body, lifting it high up in the air as the flames burned behind him:

"Veni, vidi, vici!"

Everyone saw how Bowser was triumphantly holding Minotaur's head up in the air as they cheered for him. The Leopards finally arrived on the scene.

"You did it, Bows!" the gang cheered, even Sniper Mad John from the hills.

"Thank you so much for your assistance! Please, be blessed for eternity!" said one of the soldiers as he shook his hands with Bowser. One of the other soldiers called for transport on his radio. "However, we must take the remains of the Minotaur."

"Can I keep the head though? Just for the memoir!" requested Bowser as he held the decapitated head of the Minotaur.

"No problem, but after we remove the data components from its head." said one of the soldiers. They didn't wait long before a sight of a Boeing CH-47 Chinook tandem rotor heavy lift helicopter appeared in the skies of Knossos. The Chinook descended from the skies to pick up the gang and the Hellenic soldiers and took them to the nearest base.

Later that day, in the center of Heraklion, Bowser and his gang held a speech in front of the citizens, celebrating the destruction of the dreaded Minotaur once and for all.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today I tell you that the reign of Minotaur...HAS ENDED ONCE AND FOR ALL!" declared Bowser as he showed the public the decapitated head of the heinous beast. The citizens responded with a thunderous applause and constant cheering of "BOWSER OUR HERO!".

"Thank you, Thank you! Now, we shall get our reward and we will….OPEN A NEW RESTAURANT. A RESTAURANT CALLED KORNJAČA!" said Bowser as somewhere in the city the restaurant opened. "Now farewell, citizens of Heraklion!"

As Bowser left, some of the citizens started crying, begging for him to come back, but he did wave to them as the final goodbye.

Later, he approached his colleagues near his boat as they applauded him as well.

"Well then, now we got 10 million euros. Never expected to have that much money in my life." smiled George as he played around with the bucks he had in his hands.

"Yessss! Even the Greeks shall taste the glorious food of Hrvatska!" said Brane as he raised his hand.

"Aye, that was good, lads. Aye have been missing a fight like this!" clamored Mosseau as he raised his Vickers guns in the air.

"I've got a question for you before we continue our quest, fellas!" said Bowser as everyone looked at him. "Does Crete belong to anyone?"

"Yes, to Greece." Sniper Mad John immediately answered.

"Is Greece…." continued Bowser, but before he could finish the question, John already nodded. "...Does that mean..."

"Yep, mate." said Sniper Mad John while forcing a smile.

"…."

" **HECK!** "


	7. Olive Branch of Soberness

Two of the ships under recently established Skeleton Mafia cruised through the Mediterranean sea after doing their job in Greece. The skeletons on the supporting ship had a party like there's no tomorrow, while the main ship, the fishing boat, serenely traveled over the waves. Inside the flagship, the ones behind the establishment of the Skeleton Mafia were sitting behind some kind of table in a dim lighted place. The light that hanged from the ceiling rocked together along with the ship.

"DRAT!" yelled Bowser as he slammed his fist on the table, almost making everything on it fall down. "How couldn't we know about it earlier!?"

"We kinda just went for it, didn't we? We need something that will deliver us information as fast as possible!" pondered Sniper Mad John as he held on a glass of mineral water on the table.

"Well, everything turned out to be good, but it's better if we prepare for future incidents." advised Brane as he took a little sip of rakija. "Next time our luck might run out!".

"We are in demand for moles. In order for our business to go smoothly as butter, info beforehand would greatly assist us." George offered a suggestion as he was being busy flipping his quarter for fun.

"Hmmm...you are right, George!" approved Bowser as he raised his index finger in the air. "But how would we get them? Do you have any idea?"

"BAH! Yer kiddin' me. Aye em the best man for espionage here! Just look at me!" boasted Mosseau as he smacked his trash can as its noise echoed across the ship. Everyone just glared at him in both suspicion and denial. "What?!"

"Well mate, you ain't exactly wrong." assured Sniper Mad John as he scratched his chin. "But we need more spies. One person can't cover the whole area."

"...Aye, ye got me there." admitted Mosseau as he pointed his finger guns towards Mad John.

"Well, the most optimal of choices would be that we would get one of them humans on our side. Whether or not it will be difficult depends on a person." further explained George.

"Haha! It should be EASY! Easy as popping up a balloon with a nail! Too easy to convince some numbnuts to join our side!" chuckled Bowser at the idea of gaining any kind of people on his side for his ever lasting desire for conquest. The statement of his reminded something of Brane.

"Oh….we could have done that in Croatia when we….were selling quality food of Dalmatia!" said Brane, spilling out his reminder. Bowser's enthusiasm shortly crumbled after hearing his words.

"Ah boy, here we go again." sighed George, knowing what's going to happen next. Everyone else bar Don himself took a sip of their drink, prepared for the upcoming event.

"CURSE YOU, HINDSIGHT!" yelled Bowser as he lifted the entire table up in the air, ready to throw it in the sea before he stopped himself and put the table down. His henchmen were more surprised that he didn't go through it.

"Mate, we haven't even started to conquer yet. There's no need to go up in arms now." affirmed Mad John as he attempted to further calm down Bowser.

"YET! But we must conquer NOW!….or at least….VERY SOON! I've been here for quite some time and I haven't even conquered ONE ISLAND! Sure, we have spread our influence across Balkan Peninsula apparently, BUT IT DOES NOT FEEL THE SAME! I must have a fix of CLAIMING THE LAND AS OF MY OWN!" rambled Bowser as he shook his clenched fist up in the air.

"Aye get ye, Bows me lad." avowed Mosseau as he offered Bowser a bottle, to which he refused. "Aye miss me olde days as well. Need a fix of that GLORY!"

"Yes, yes, we will get to that part." grimaced George as he stopped toying with his revolver, putting it back in his pocket. Suddenly, one of the skeleton minions barged in the room.

"Boss!" urged the bonehead as he made a gesture for them to come over the intended place.

"What?!" asked Bowser as he glanced at his henchmen, expecting some pestering and such.

"There's an island in front of us! It's massive!" announced the skeleton as everyone went outside of bridge, witnessing the mass of land in the Mediterranean sea. The gust of wind gently blew in their faces.

"AW YEAH!" shouted Bowser as he punched the air in excitement. "Finally, some action!"

"Perhaps we should apply here what we were talking about earlier." recommended Sniper Mad John as he brought up his binoculars so that he could take a closer look at the island, possibly identifying it.

"You're right indeed! So….who's gonna volunteer?" said Bowser as he posed to look like an explorer once again, facing his crew with a passionate look on his face.

"Can't ignore the obvious choices, my friend!" boasted Brane as he stepped closer to him with Mad John, both of them pumping up fists in the air. Meanwhile the gangster George approached his Jaguar Mark I sedan as he opened the doors and took his mask from it, putting on it on his skeletal face.

"George! I thought you forgot about it!" exclaimed Bowser, noticing what George was wearing.

"Well, I can't play the game of risks as of now. I admit, I should have done it back in Dalmatia." cautioned George as he stepped near the men of two radically different sizes.

"So!" grinned Sniper Mad John as he rubbed his hands, preparing to hear his boss' orders. "What are we gonna do, mate?"

Bowser glanced at the island in front of them before deciding to give orders. After brainstorming for an idea, he issued an order: "Okay, so! The first official mission of Skeleton Mafia shall be this! Your job is to investigate the island, obtain information and return back here! We shall later on plan our offense on it and conquer it! Understood?!"

"Of course, my colleague!" claimed both Brane and John as the saluted towards Bowser.

"Sure." said George as he prepared his arsenal of weaponry for the most critical circumstances.

"Gyahahaha! Let me in, lads!" called in Mosseau as he raised his rusty claymore up in the air.

"Now THAT is what I LIKE TO SEE! Now remember! This is only….uh how do you say it in fancy words?" Bowser attempted to boast before his tongue got tied from trying to sound somewhat professional.

"Reconnaissance mission?" Sniper Mad John corrected him as he raised his finger.

"….are there any SIMPLER terms?!" grumbled Bowser upon hearing the word "reconnaissance". It could simply just not get inside his head.

"Well, recon for short." added John, easing the mood of his boss.

"Ah, that sounds so much better for my tongue. Anyway, got any questions?!" asked Bowser as he looked at the participants of the mission.

"What will you do?" responded George, as if he was provoking Bowser.

"...Uh...ahem. I'll just….monitor the entire thing!" mumbled Bowser, desperately trying to come up with something as the ships slowly approached the unknown yet large island. "Let me just..."

"Take this, my friend!" resounded Brane, giving him his old crusty Nokia phone while John showed his own phone, just to assure that their plan is feasible with such an idea. "We will give out calls when we obtain some good info, but don't hesitate calling us! It's gonna be real jače!"

Bowser put John's phone inside the pockets of his captain's uniform before continuing finishing his improvised order: "So, we got that out of our system! Everything else is clear! Now, we just have to park our ships, which shall be soon!"

The crew prepared for the recon as the ships of Skeleton Mafia, while the one with only skeletons on board started lagging behind the "capital" ship, started approaching one of the ports of the island. The harbor itself, while not particularly large in size, was filled with many kinds of boats, sailboats with tall yet clean masts and luxuriously fresh yachts, residing soundly yet relaxingly in it. The vessels of Skeleton Mafia stood out like sore thumbs between them, in terms of size and appearance. Few of the palm trees of Mediterranean spurted out from the stone cube-paved path. In one part of the port, a renewed medieval fort, shaped like a quadrilateral, stood, giving the port its own identity. Once they managed to properly park their ships (the second one took just a little bit more time), the gang composing of George, Brane, Sniper Mad John and Mosseau jumped off the ship, all of them, while doing flips in the air, smoothly landed on the land of harbor.

"Good luck and DON'T screw up!" ordered Bowser towards his colleagues, standing above them on the ship like a true, boastful commander.

"No issue, mate. We're professionals after all!" boasted Sniper Mad John as he gave him the finger guns along with Brane. George just tipped his hat while Mosseau raised his fist up in the air while holding one of his custom-made weaponry. They walked off away from the harbor towards as close they could get to the center while Bowser observed them from the ship. He proudly crossed his arms as he kept thinking about how much is going to conquer.

"Boss!" shouted one of his skeletal minions, interrupting Bowser's borderline daydreaming of ruling of the world.

"What is it?" asked Bowser in a rather grouchy way because he was interrupted from imagining his glory.

"We forgot to tell you the bad news. The engine of our ship is hosed!" explained the skeleton as he pointed at the ship which had such problem.

"Urghh….which one of you is responsible for this?" bellowed Bowser, angrily approaching the skeleton while the bone man looked in the eyes of his boss without fear.

"No one. It was a malfunction from the engine!" elaborated skeleton, trying to ease the situation from his boss receiving another anger attack.

"Then do what must be done: FIX IT!" furiously commanded Bowser as he stomped right into the bridge, opening the door with sheer force of his irritation.

"Of course, Don!" obliged skeleton, saluting his boss before turning back towards his comrades. "Yo, anyone tech savvy here?"

One of the skeletons donned protective mechanic's glasses and black flat hat before loudly claiming: "Ayy, I'm in! Don't worry fellas, this will be done in no time."

"Thanks, my mang!" complimented skeleton as the mechanic, along with some of his followers who seemed to know how to fix engines, marched right into the ship, seeking the engine room.

"So...what will we do after we get rid of that problem?" questioned one of the skellies, scratching his skull in the process.

"Like we always do! Except that I think we should have a different game for today. We've been playing nothing but poker as of late." avowed another skeleton, making the group of boneheads trying to come up with an idea.

"Uno?" suggested some skeleton in the gang.

"Nah, we've got enough cards for now." disagreed another skeleton, as she was impulsed by the idea of playing any card game due burn out.

"Hmmm….Monopoly?" offered one of the skeletons, hesitating a bit because he thought his idea is going to be rejected.

"Oh! That's a good one! We should go for few rounds of it, since not much of it was played here!" agreed the skeleton, to which rest of the gang also approved the idea.

"Let us invite our boss to the game!" recommended another skeleton, to which the skeletal gang cheered as they raised their fists up in the air.

Meanwhile, those who were sent on the mission strolled through the city, which held resemblance towards the towns they visited before, except the streets were more occupied by people walking down the streets, looking for various buildings such as stores and restaurants or even some historical sights. By the contrast, not many cars drove around the roads, people generally preferred to walk in order to satisfy their needs. The white blocky buildings shined under the sun, giving the city somewhat of a glow. Sometimes, seagulls flew over their heads. Bowser's henchmen observed every detail of the town, trying to gather as much information as possible.

"Aye gonna go there, ye know for covering more space, See ye later, lads." said Mosseau as he rolled off to another street.

"See you later!" waved Brane towards the one who went in their own way before he took another look at the architecture, taking a deep breath in satisfaction when he raised his hands to encompass the size of the place. "Isn't this city just beautiful?!"

"I swear every town we visited feels similar. Is it a specific style here or somethin'?" recalled George as the group continued to stroll down the city.

"I assume it's the style of Mediterranean, so we shouldn't be surprised about the similarities." cleared up Sniper Mad John while eating one of his rations that he took it from Bendigo much earlier.

"Is that so?...Say, John. You've mentioned that you have visited all corners of the world. Tell me about it." George started a conversation out of curiosity.

"Ye, mate! Been on every continent, even on Antarctica!" cheerfully answered John, having a huge, dumb grin on his crusty face.

"Antarctica?! Opa! You haven't told me about that one yet. How was it?" piqued Brane as his eyebrows rose.

"Heatstroke inducing." jested George while having his hands in the pockets.

"Hahaha! Well, mate. You must be really passionate about penguins, because that's the only reason to ever even visit it unless you're a scientist. Then you have much more important reasons to go there. That being said, it's much more lively underwater, no question why. Went scuba-diving there and there were so many fish down there! Sometimes penguins, leopard seals and even orcas appeared! Thankfully, the last one ain't no aggressive type. I managed to get up close with it and the orca I've met was quite a funny one." chuckled Sniper Mad John as he went on about one of his many journeys in his life. Brane was happily listening to his story, smiling all the way through.

"Quite enthusiastic about travelin' and fauna, huh. Ever considered to be somethin' like a guide or zookeeper?" asked George, being somewhat interested.

"Tourist guide is my part-time job at times, but my real job is much….filthier, so to say. The one that takes lives. Don't worry about it, I ain't one of those corrupt types, but yea, my job is one of the reasons why I travel so much. For zookeeper I've considered about it." conceded John, making hand gestures during his speech.

"A job, no matter how filthy is it, is still a job. Better have one than none. Back in my day, I wasn't so fortunate, but far from bein' the only one. Thanks to the circumstances back then, I had to turn into the life of crime. Ever remained one since then." told George about his own experiences while having his head slightly angled downwards.

"Ouch...I know how that feels, to fight for the basic needs." lamented Brane as he attempted to pat the shoulders of George.

"It wasn't easy there either, especially at home. Had to get money somehow." said John as he somberly frowned for a bit.

"The memories may follow us forever, but it is no use holdin' on to them. Look at us now. We're exploring all those new places without a worry to not have the needs to survive, not a single worry about not having a job. We kind of created our jobs when we established the mafia. It's not fully realized, but I feel quite a decent amount of potential." acknowledged George, ending the sudden gloomy mood of the conversation with his message.

"Indeed, mate." affirmed John with his grin returning on his face.

"Credit to Bowser, of course!" praised Brane as he pumped his fist in the air.

"Surprisingly, yeah. He ain't exactly the sharpest, but it's nice that he got us somewhere." said George, snapping his finger in a complimenting way.

"I wonder what would Mosseau say about this." pondered Sniper Mad John, scratching his crusty beard.

"Frankly, it feels kind of empty without him ramblin' about whatever thing has he done." addressed George.

"Say, where do you think he went on his own?" asked Brane as they kept continuing wandering around the city, still doing the same as before.

Meanwhile in a bar with a rather large neon sign stating " LINEKERS" above it, accompanied with the symbol of the lion like creature, Mosseau rolled in through the few tables and chairs right into the entrance, revealing a spacious, well lit but empty bar with only large, bald bartender in it, cleaning the glasses. The equipment and furniture inside the bar was relatively clean, possibly from the bartender taking everything inside. He immediately looked over the entrance after hearing a loud, booming noise from Mosseau bum-rushing in the bar.

"You must be in a need." quipped the bartender while not even bothering with the appearance of his customer while still cleaning the glasses and cups.

"Aye, ye got that right! Aye am in a massive need!" confirmed Mosseau as he approached towards the bartender, slamming his fist as he demanded: "GIVE ME SOME GOOD HOMEGROWN STUFF!"

"...Sure." muttered the bartender, glaring at the demanding Scot before giving him a small menu with the names of drinks on it. "What do you want?"

Mosseau took a good look at the laminated paper and saw that the names of the beverages were written in Greek letters alongside with words written in Latin alphabet. The names of drinks were printed on the both sides of the paper. After thinking about what to choose, he then put the paper back and pointed directly on the first name on the menu.

"Aye want Commandaria! Make it good, laddeh!" boastfully demanded Mosseau. The bartender sighed before going for the bottle of the requested wine in the back. Once he brought the desired wine, he gave it to the still sober skeleton. The bottle itself was black with the red cap on top of it, etiquette covering the radius of it, its name being written in golden colors while warning about the volume of 15%.

"Mind if Aye take it home?" requested Mosseau as he grabbed the bottle like how an owl grabs mice with its talons.

"Okay, just pay for it." bellowed the bartender as he reached out his hand and opened his palm, requesting the dosh. "30 Euros shall it be."

"Ooooooh, Aye got something better than just measly mone!" boasted Mosseau as he whipped out a shiningly golden 7.62x51mm bullet out of his trash can. The glow from the bullet caused bartender to flinch.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" scoffed bartender, pretending to be unimpressed by the bullet.

"Oh that, my lad, is the legendary 24 carat bullet! It gives lads like us fortune, meaning that we'll always not only survive but win as well. However, the luck runs out if you use it, so conserve it and if ye don't believe me that the bullet is made out of gold..." explained Mosseau before he pulled out a 24 carat golden bar out of his trash can. Bartender's jaw dropped when he saw the bar shining in Mosseau's boney arms.

"C-can I...have it?" stuttered the bartender, admiring the glow of the golden bar while desperately trying to reach it and grab it.

"Take it! Just give me good stuff!" affirmed Mosseau as they exchanged their things with bartender giving him additional bottles of Commandaria.

"See ye efter!" greeted off Mosseau, rolling out of the bar with him being equipped with many bottles of Commandaria as the bartender was too busy staring at the golden items he received. He went off towards the back door, entering the alleyway behind the bar for a cigarette pause, yet he was still admiring the glow of the bullet and a golden bar.

"I'm gonna be rich! RICH! Finally, a future that is not running this damned bar!" shouted the bartender in joy as he raised the golden bullet and the bar up in the air. Suddenly, a dark stout figure flew down from the sky and snatched the items he held so dearly. Just like how his temporary possessions disappeared in front of his eyes, so did his brief moment of happiness. He sighed as he returned inside, back to running his bar as always.

Outside the entrance, Mosseau was wheezing from laughter as he was taking the "sips" of the amber-colored sweet dessert wine, greatly enjoying the taste.

"OHOHOHOHOH! GYAHAHAHA! Fooken mongloid! He totally felt for it!" he laughed far behind bartender's back, greatly ingesting the wine. However, he decided to spare some of the bottles, for his collection of alcoholic beverages and for future uses. "Aye just repainted a steel bar and a bullet in gold!

The laughter ceased as soon as he saw the stout figure flying above him. The man himself seemed to steer on a large balloon high up in the air.

"What the bloody hell is that?!" asked Mosseau as he saw the flying man in the sky. He decided to follow him out of curiosity.

Meanwhile George, Brane and John continued strolling down the town, searching for any information they could find and talking about various topics, mostly about life and cars of old and new. During their mission they haven't encountered many people, be them detrimental or helpful for their mission.

"Did Bows specify anything we need to bring to him? I know it's information but any items and such?" queried Brane.

"Not really. We could just say what needs to be said and it's over. He didn't say much about what exactly but I think I know what he meant: the name of the city, the name of the island and background information." cleared up George as they suddenly stopped walking.

"I can easily provide the background info!" cheerfully boasted Mad John before noticing that they were standing right in front of the souvenir shop.

"….Oh." all of them disclosed as they approached the shop up close, observing any possible items that could give information inside through the window. The shopkeeper stood behind the register, staring at the clock which hung from one of the shop's walls. Near the shop there were some bicycles and a worn out crusty moped parked, seemingly not protected by anything.

"Anyone found anythin' ?" asked George as they kept observing the interior of the store, witnessing many items scattered around in it such as cups, postcards, ships in bottles and much more, some of them kitsch.

"Aha!" shouted Brane as he spotted a postcard with a beautiful coast alongside with crystal clear sea on it along with one word written in golden letters. "We are in Paphos!"

"Paphos? Lemme see it up close." piqued Sniper Mad John, taking a closer look at the postcard as he saw a white flag with a golden shape of the island along with two stylized olive branches below in the top left corner of the postcard. "So we are….in Cyprus."

"Nice! Never been to it before, so I'm making history here!" crowed Brane as he was nearly prepared to buy some souvenirs before stopping himself from fruitlessly wasting money.

"I don't have a word in it, but seems like a tranquil place to live." commented George. On other hand, Sniper Mad John only had an expression used at times of something going hugely wrong as his mouth was wide open.

"Hm? Što se radi, Johne?(What's happening, John?)" asked Brane, puzzled at his colleague's reaction. George also glanced over, sharing his feeling with Brane as well.

"...Mates, I think we goofed up." calmly said Sniper Mad John as he brought up the phone from his pocket.

"What do you mean? Everythin' went decently well as of far." questioned George, scratching the tip of the hat as he looked at what John was going to do.

"I'll explain everything in the call." clarified Sniper Mad John as he tapped on his phone before starting a call.

Meanwhile on the flagship of Skeleton mafia, Bowser was playing monopoly alongside his skeletal troops, with each of the player having some money on their side and a figure of something, be it an object or life form, which worked for the player to obtain real estate. While all of the players did get some houses, some were more fortunate with others with Bowser being on the "Go to jail" space. Because of this, he glared at the figure while tapping his fingers. Non-participants watched the game, some of them even eating čevapi with kajmak, ajvar or mustard, basically their equivalent of wings during an intense game of Superbowl. Some of them took liberties with food and brought in kebabs, pljeskavicas and other typical Balkan food. Despite all of this, none of them were eating sarma. Each skeleton cheered for the player of their own choices, but most skeletons sided with Bowser, chanting his name when the game seemed in favor of him. The "fans" of other participants did that as well.

The Nokia phone in Bowser's pocket rang, heavily vibrating in the process. He picked it up and answered, still holding an annoyed expression on his face.

"Don Bowser! I've got stuff you wanted!" said the voice of Sniper Mad John through the phone.

"Huh? Already?! Well that was quick! Tell me!" marveled Bowser as he got his energy back. The skeletons stopped partying as they started to pay attention towards the news.

"It seems that we are in Cyprus, the island not that far away from Crete." started reporting Mad John through the compression.

"Cyprus? I think I've heard that one before." recalled Bowser, looking at the detached metallic skull of a bull on his table, used as a lucky charm.

"Yea, mate. However, what they told us about it during our visit in Crete gave us a bit of the idea on why starting a proper operation of taking over Cyprus will put our goals to the bitter end." warned John before he actually explained why.

"It's because of THAT NATO HOOLIGAN ORGANIZATION, isn't it?" angrily assumed Bowser, clenching his fist in the process.

"Not exactly. Cyprus is not a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization but there's a dispute about this island between two NATO countries...for one which we had helped. Invading it would not only cause a grave international distress, but it would definitely make NATO intervene, destroying both us and our plans. In other words…..it would be a massive shiteshow." explained Sniper Mad John in the most tranquil possible way.

"DARN YOU, UNSTABLE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS!" yelled Bowser, causing voice cracks from John's phone as he shook his fist up in the air. "Now, return back to the ship. We'll start our conquest somewhere else. Somewhere where THOSE NATO CHUMPS don't have constant view!"

"No worries! I'll draw the path out of Mediterranean once we return!" promised John before the call ended. Few moments of silence and confusion followed.

"Are we actually gonna leave Mediterranean?" asked Brane as if he was concerned.

"Unfortunately, yes." confirmed John. Brane, while taking the realization well, still felt some sentimentality over not only leaving his homeland, but the continent as well. George also felt somewhat uneasy, but hid his emotions under the stoic facade of his.

"So….anyone want souvenirs?" asked George, pointing towards the store.

"OF COURSE!" shouted Brane and John in agreement, pumping their fists. All of them went inside and ventured into the shop, thinking what to buy. The store itself was cramped and small, so even with only just three people it felt like it was already full, granted though that Sniper Mad John's size equates to the size of two men. Brane chose the ship in a bottle, Mad John picked up some of the key chains while George secretly put some maps in his pockets. Two of the men paid for their stuff while the skeleton gangster sneaked out of the store without being spotted by the cashier. Leaving the store, the trio stepped closer to each other and showed their items to each other.

"That's a pretty nice boat, mate. Good choice." John complimented the vessel, similar to those in the 19th century, inside the bottle.

"Thank you! It is quite neat." thanked Brane as he gave John a high five.

"We gotta go now, capisce?" ordered George. He pointed towards the assumed direction of their ship before they put their items in their pockets. Suddenly, the shadowy stout figure struck from the sky and snatched the gang's items before they could even properly put them in their pockets. The group realized their situation once they felt a gust of wind in their face, almost causing George's hat to fall off.

"...The hell?" wondered George as he and his colleagues frantically searched through their pockets before noticing the figure of a man holding on the balloon as he flew in the sky.

"Is that…." said Brane, noticing some familiarity in the figure. John tried to figure out what Brane meant while George quickly pulled out his revolver and shot at the figure. The sound of the shot echoed through out the city, making many inhabitants looking through the windows what was even happening. The bullet pierced right through the balloon, popping it like it's nothing. The man in the sky flailed his arms like a madman once he realized that his transport device is no more and started falling down the sky like a stone. After hearing the sound of a man impacting the road, the gang ran up towards the destination of the man, only to be surprised what they saw. The man wore a red superhero like mask, complemented by the red cape which covered the yellow corset, presumably hiding girth of the lad. The formerly flying mustached man, also with black shorts, was picking himself up from the impact, but was caught surrounded by George, John and Brane.

"IZ BIJESA!" yelled Brane in shock as he saw the man, all of the recalls of his becoming true. "IT'S..."

"What?" asked Mad John after witnessing the man that fell from the sky, trying to see if knew about him before.

"Alright, Mr. Rejected idea for a comic book protagonist, give us the stuff back and make it quick." threated George, pointing his Silver Coyote revolver at him with his finger being on the trigger, prepared to be pulled any time.

The stubby mustached man chuckled as he fully picked himself up and stood in front of them, not even flinching at the threat made by George, who kept being calm even by the man's resolve.

"..Hahahahaha! Yes it is I..." laughed the man before he properly introduced himself as the gang continued being on guard.

" **SUPERHIK**!"

Brane gasped in shock after the man introduced himself while other two just glanced at each other in confusion.

"...Who?" asked George as he started to lower down the revolver, questioning if he's even a proper threat.

"Bastard jedni!" shouted Brane at him, threatening Superhik with his fist. However he didn't seem to be afraid of it.

"Hah! It seems like only one of you knows me already. I am Superhik, the patron and guardian of the wealthy! I steal from the poor so I can give it to rich! And now here, in Cyprus, I plan my grand return to New York!" boasted Superhik, shaking his fist in the air. The sentence about returning to New York made George lift up his revolver again while Brane clenched his teeth.

"..You sure you got that right, mate?" asked Mad John, questioning his modus operandi.

"Yes, I did. Now you fools won't bother me anymore as I continue planning my return!" daunted Superhik as he pulled out a bottle without the etiquette out of the cape and started drinking it.

"Should we shoot him now?" John questioned George, the latter still holding on the revolver.

"No need to make a mess at the moment. All it would do is to get the cops after us because of one blood bag." explained George while putting down his revolver back in the pocket and raised up his fists, to which both John and Brane followed. Superhik finished his drink and menacingly glared at them before taking a deep breath.

"DOVRAGA! Cover your noses!" alerted Brane as he grabbed his nose in preparation, so did John. George couldn't exactly do that because his lack of actual nose. Superhik exhaled and blew them his breath. The breath itself was visible, being colored green. Even though they covered their noses, they still felt the absolute magnitude of sheer smell of Superhik's breath, making them heavily flinch in the process.

"Lord, this is worse than anything from sewers!" rasped George as he crouched down from Superhik's offense along with his comrades.

"Mate, what the flying fuck?!" grimaced John before he started coughing from it.

"Iz bijesa! Ajde u kurac, Superhike! (Go into a dick, Superhik!)" swore Brane with anger in the bottom of his heart directed towards Superhik.

"Hahahaha! Now,...I must return! The reign of Superhik shall start again!" taunted Superhik, just as he attempted to retreat for them in order to continue his plans, but not before a force of something intercepted and crashed right into him, sending him off towards the store that he was in front of. Breaking the glass doors of the store while launched, he landed right in the merchandising refrigerator, destroying it as every possible plastic bottle above fell on his head. In front of the store stood the force of something that crashed into him: Mosseau. Somehow, he managed to catch Superhik's bottle while he bumped into him. He glanced over his colleagues and saw them still crouching. As soon as they noticed him, they stood up and frowningly pointed towards Superhik, who now lied unconscious in the broken refrigerator.

"Found ye!" yelled Mosseau as he looked towards the man in the costume, taunting him by shaking the bottle of his.

"Watch out for his breath, Mosseau!" warned Brane, knowing the experience.

"What?!" said Mosseau while deciding to inspect the bottle of the caped menace. He opened the cap of the bottle and sniffed it, immediately noticing the problem. "Shite's expired!"

Superhik regained consciousness as he picked himself up from the refrigerator and removed the bottles. He noticed what Mosseau was holding, but instead of getting angry that he had his main source of power, he could only stare at Mosseau's appearance.

"Impossible! I couldn't be drunk, alcohol is in my veins!" he yelped as he saw the skeleton in the trash can before his frustration kicked in.

"Alcohol in yer veins! Hah! So did I have it back when I was human!" commented Mosseau, causing puzzled reactions from his colleagues.

"Give me back my bottle, you abomination!" fumed Superhik as he prepared himself to lunge at Mosseau and use his trademark breath on him.

"Oh, ye drink from that?!" goaded Mosseau as he flailed the bottle to anger him. "Ye'd have better luck drinking DIARRHEA than this vomit!"

"No, you think? Of course I do, bonehead!" sassed Superhik, causing Mosseau's head to twitch. Other colleagues stepped in, attempting to possibly intercept Superhik if he tried to escaped, but kept relative distance from the raging skeleton in a trash can.

"...Ye fooken WOT?!" roared Mosseau with his accent getting suddenly thicker, throwing the bottle directly at Superhik, hitting him in the process. Yet only thing it caused to Superhik was making him flinch. "First ye insult me….NOW YE INSULT THE WINE, FINEST BLESSINGS OF THE GODS EVER, BY DRINKING THAT SHITE?!"

"And? What's the problem, you sour pisstake?" further taunted Superhik as he inhaled, oozing out any possible smell from his breath.

"A'M GONNA SAW YER BONES AND SELL EM ON THE BLACK MARKET, MONGREL!" loudly threatened Mosseau, pulling out two of his chainsaws out of his trash can and revved them up as they roared with the might of the angry Scot.

"Shit!" gulped Superhik with his jaw dropping at the sight, irises shrinking and balls dropping. Mosseau lunged at him ahead with the chainsaws, but Superhik narrowly escaped the attack by spitting out his breath and narrowly sliding towards the exit of the store, making Mosseau crash into the same refrigerator as he did earlier. George, Brane and John attempted to capture Superhik, preventing him from escaping but Superhik managed to evade all of them as he grabbed the moped of the Vespa Primavera 50 4T 4V kind and drove off away from them.

"Goodbye, you bastards!" he taunted as he kept distancing from them, waving at them in the gaudiest possible way.

"COME BACK 'ERE, YE COWARDLY SARDONIC SWINE!" shouted Mosseau at him before turning back towards his lads.

"Dovraga! We cannot let him escape, but only Mosseau has a proper way to keep a track of him!" seethed Brane as he smacked his fist on his palm. All of them looked back and saw few bicycles parked in front of the shop which they had previously visited and then glanced at each other, thinking about the idea itself.

"You sure this is gonna do it, mates?" asked Mad John, doubting the idea.

"A job must be done, the way how to do it be damned." declared George before all of them bar Mosseau jumped on the bikes, landing their posteriors on the saddles.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!" Mosseau let out his war cry, pointing the chainsaws towards the direction their current adversary went as they started pedaling like mad twats. It did not take long to reach their maximum velocity. Mosseau followed them while keeping the same velocity as them.

Meanwhile, Superhik started slowing down once he noticed no one is behind him, smugly smirking in satisfaction. He was the only one who was driving in the somewhat quiet town, with only cars being around parked near the houses.

"Hah! Too easy! These morons couldn't even stand a chance." he thought to himself before he pulled out a balloon out of the area around cape and started blowing it, so he could fly again. Just before he could fully inflate the balloon, a shot was heard and the bullet flew right above his head, popping up the balloon as the elastic covered his face. After removing the elastic from his face, he looked back and saw three lads and one skeleton in a trash can on wheels chasing after him. His feeling of accomplishment dropped immediately as he tightened the grip on the handle bar, speeding up drastically. Yet the gang still was in range within the possibility of reaching him.

George held on his handle bar with one hand, since he was holding the revolver in his other hand. He started aiming towards the wheel of the moped after he shot the balloon. Brane and John accompanied him during the chase while Mosseau brought up two of his Vickers machine guns and aimed at Superhik.

"Not the best time to make one's bones , Mosseau." ordered George, stopping Mosseau from firing as he reluctantly put the machine guns back in the trash can, instead opting for the chainsaws.

"Now yer gonna get it, FUCKER!" threatened Mosseau as he closed near Superhik and attempted to cut him down with diagonal slashes, but Superhik evaded all of the attacks by distancing himself with his moped before striking Mosseau by bumping into him, causing the mad skeleton to lose track and nearly crashing into the nearest building, but Mosseau managed to break just in time to avoid collateral damage. His colleagues looked at him, reassuring if everything is going alright with him before they changed focus on the escaping hooligan.

"Not this time! Hahahaha!" laughed Superhik, bringing up another one of his bottles, this one lacking any substance. He threw it behind his back in order to hit anyone chasing him, but the bottle landed just a bit earlier to really hit the gang, but the shrapnels flew across the street, making the bicyclists evade them. Not a single shrapnel hit the bikers or the tires, but few of them bounced off Mosseau's trash can. It seemed that people of Paphos noticed the sound with residents of few buildings looking through open windows at the scene. They couldn't believe what was happening.

"Superhik!" some of them yelled before they started booing for him, however he took pride with it, grinning to himself. People kept looking at the gang in bewilderment, not sure if they should cheer for him.

George attempted to shoot the back tire of Superhik's moped, but he kept almost flawlessly evading them, making some smooth moves in the process. Once George noticed his gun is out of bullets, he let off of the handle and searched through the pocket to find additional bullets. Superhik took a notice in that, so he aligned himself right in front of George as he prepared another empty bottle, but his plan got foiled once Mosseau bumped right into him, temporarily losing the grip of his moped. He retaliated back by ramming sideways into Mosseau, but the Scot held on tight. Both of them kept pushing each other with their vehicles with them constantly tilting while George tried his hardest to keep the bike balanced while reloading the gun.

Sniper Mad John and Brane sneaked right at the side of the Superhik while he was dealing with Mosseau with Brane being pedaling on the right side of his massive friend. Superhik noticed it immediately and grabbed another one of his full bottles and started drinking it, but was constantly interrupted by John's attempted punches, having to resort to evasive maneuvers while drinking. Somehow, Superhik managed to drink the entire spoiled black wine in seconds and started to inhale. Knowing the inevitable, Sniper Mad John and Brane backed off while Mosseau ducked inside the trash can, sliding off a bit to the left. In the mean time, George managed to reload his gun without and disturbance and looked at the situation in front of him. After analyzing it, he grinned as he pointed his revolver towards the trash can owned by Mosseau and fired the bullet at it. The bullet itself bounced off just at the right angle, making it flying towards the front wheel, penetrating it as Superhik flipped over, but, due quick reflexes, he grabbed a balloon, inflated it with his volatile breath and flew off away from the gang.

"Što?! (What?!)" shouted Brane as he saw the sudden ascension of the alcoholic thug, not knowing what to do. George pointed the gun at him, but realized he was out of reach.

"Follow him, where he lands!" advised John as they cycled towards the direction of Superhik.

Meanwhile, Superhik landed on the roof of one of the shiningly white buildings in Paphos, watching above the streets. The balloon of his deflated the breath out, going high up in the air instead.

"Phew…..I take my words back. They're like Group TNT...except arguably crazier, especially the one in the trash can! What the fuck!" confided Superhik to himself while checking if he still has all the stolen items from before, exhaling in relief. "I have to get outta here real soon! New York can't wait much longer! I must give the stuff to the rich!"

"Oh...I only have few balloons left. Better make a good use of it!" said Superhik to himself as he pulled out one of his last balloons and started inflating it. The moment it seemed like the balloon was ready to go, a bullet out of nowhere popped up his balloon just like before. Superhik froze in fear once he realized who was near him: George, Mosseau, John and Brane, standing right behind him on the roof. After firing a shot, George placed his revolver back into the pocket.

Superhik turned behind and saw them all glaring at him while cracking their fists. Brane was even smirking in satisfaction, seeing the adversary cornered.

"Alright, we're busy men, make it quick. Give back our stuff, capisce?" said George in the most stoic, yet threatening voice possible.

Superhik, while heavily sweating, thought about how to respond to the threat. He could have easily pulled a balloon, but it would risk him losing one thanks to George. Attempting to strike with his weapon of choice could cost him life is what he also considered about. Running away seemed like the safest option to him, but at the same time most dishonorable. Then he decided his incoming action…

"Never! I, Superhik, the patron and guardian of the rich, shall not go without a fight!" boasted Superhik as he prepared to drink one of his bottles again, only to get jabbed right into the stomach by Brane, spitting all of the drink out.

"Take that, ludake jedni!" yelled Brane when he punched, which was followed by Mosseau going behind Superhik and striking him in the back of the head with his fists. Just as Superhik was about to fall down of the floor, Sniper Mad John performed an uppercut right on his chin, making him stand up dizzily for a bit. For the finale, George stepped right in front of him, placing his arm that it blocked the sun. The rest of the gang was watching George like they were on the edge of the seat.

"W-who are you madmen?" stuttered Superhik while holding on the remaining consciousness of his, prancing around the roof as if he was malfunctioning.

"SKELETON BITCH SLAP!"

George delivered his mighty slap across Superhik's face, heavily injuring his jaw, knocking out all of his consciousness and sending him flying across the city from the sheer force of the impact.

"Holy shit, man." gasped Mosseau in awe after witnessing the slap while John's and Brane's mouths dropped from how did he manage to make the alcoholic criminal fly across the sky from a mere slap.

"As if I'm moronic enough to tell him the name of our organization." uttered George in annoyance before all of them decided to visit the location where Superhik landed.

After some time leaving the building, the gang started walking towards their desired destination. Exhausted from all the work, their speed was rather slow. The city, while used to be slightly empty, was now filled with people watching them, secretly admiring them for what they did.

"Say, Brane...What's the reason that he pissed you off so much?" asked George as they kept strolling down.

"Do you remember the time when you saw me behind my stand constantly without any business? That was his doing. He's the reason why I couldn't get any money until you and Bowser came in!" explained Brane in a rather relaxed way, relieved and satisfied that his enemy got just what he deserved.

"Oh...I get ya, my associate. I get you well." commented George as he tipped his hat. Once they arrived, they saw the unconscious Superhik laying down as if stars were circling around his head. People were laughing and swearing at the man, but it stopped once they saw the gang walking towards them. Mosseau came closer towards the laying Superhik and picked up every item belonging to them that he stole: a "golden bar", "golden bullet", key chains, maps and a ship in the bottle.

"Our now!" said John in satisfaction as the gang had their grips back on the desired items.

"You there!" the crowd cheered as the gang turned towards them, slightly confused on why they called them. "Thank you for beating the crap out of that asshole! He was destroying the...relative peace in this country….and the aroma!"

"No problem!" thanked John as he bowed down to them with others as well. Suddenly a telephone rang from his pocket. He picked it up and he heard the easily recognizable voice through it.

"WHERE ARE YOU ALL?!" roared Bowser through the phone, causing some voice cracks in the process.

"Oh, we were supposed to return but….we had some unexpected slight technical difficulties here." elaborated John while remaining as calm as possible.

"BAH! Technical difficulties, RETURN TO THE SHIP!" furiously commanded Bowser, causing more voice cracks in John's phone.

"I think it might not be as soon as you think. We'll return whenever we can." persuaded John to give them some time while others carefully listened to their discussion.

"Fine! If it truly is THAT much of an issue, then I'll allow it until midnight." allowed Bowser before they said farewell to each other, cutting the call. John and his friends looked at the public and asked: "So...now that he's wrecked….what now?"

"Party?" requested one of the citizens of Paphos, which others were on board with the idea, shouting "YEAH" and raising their fists.

"Aye!" shouted Mosseau, Brane and Mad John in agreement as they also pumped their fists up in the air. They took a look at George to see if he agrees with it.

"I would have returned immediately but….I can't leave my associates behind." agreed George and thus the party across the city started. The contemporary energetic music blared through the city as John, Brane and Mosseau danced (or in Mosseau's case, flailing his arms like a flag in the wind) while George observed them while drinking martinis. John and Brane tried few of the drinks there but remained sober while Mosseau was chugging everything on sight. People asked to take pictures with them, though the most popular choice was Mosseau due his appearance. All of them bar George, to which barely anyone requested to take a picture with him because people were intimidated by him, allowed and made some goofy poses in the process. Sometimes Brane took the role of DJ and blasted some intense accordion music in the bar. None than less, all of them were having fun of their life that moment.

Night dawned upon Paphos with all of them remaining sober (even Mosseau) as they strutted confidently towards their ship. The full moon illuminated the city, keeping it away from the darkness as the waves gently touched the coast of Cyprus. The sea itself was black, with only the reflection of the moon on it. Bowser, along with Scrongus and Crongus acting like guards, was waiting for them in front of the ship, tapping his foot on the surface while having his arms crossed.

"So...what time is it now?" threateningly asked Bowser, thinking that they were only returning past midnight.

"Ten minutes until midnight." responded John, looking at the time on his phone. His response surprised Bowser, making him check the time on Brane's phone he kept just to be sure what John said was correct.

"Huh...you are indeed correct." said Bowser, toning down his frustrations by that fact. "Otherwise, we don't have much luck going here, do we?"

"Not one bit, Don Bowser." confirmed George as all of them got closer towards their boss.

"If yer wondering why are we late, some arsehole attacked us and it took longer than expected" further explained Mosseau as he held on one of his Commandaria bottles, still sipping it.

"I see….Do you remember his name?" pondered Bowser while fixing his captain's hat for a more comfortable position.

"It was Superhik, boss!" spilled out Brane as soon as he could.

"We'll be needin' a gas mask after that." added George while somewhat jesting about it.

"Ah...tell him that next time he meddles with our plans, he will be begging for his momma to save him." cautioned Bowser with a rather psychotic smirk on his face, catching off guard everyone around him.

"Of...course." remarked Sniper Mad John while being off put by the expression of his boss.

"By the way, I won the game of monopoly. We just finished now." Bowser suddenly changed the entire feel of the conversation as he stated.

"Nice, mang." complimented Mosseau before all of them decided to board the ship, but not before hearing a faint noise of menacing accordion. The group of them stopped and started looking around to see the potential source of the unknown sound.

"Momci, do you hear any instrument right now?" asked Brane, being weirded out by the noise as he kept looking around. The sounds of accordion, playing a rather famous tune akin to a theme of a certain villain in a movie about an intergalactic war.

"Indeed I do." confirmed Mad John while going in a fighting stance.

"Whom the bloody FUCK plays an accordion in the night?" questioned Mosseau as he prepared his chainsaws for any incoming attacks. The menacing accordion kept getting louder.

"It's not a question of who, but why?" said George as he prepared his revolver in advance.

"Why? More like WHAT EVEN is going on now?!" shouted Bowser in confusion, but just like his colleagues he prepared himself in a fighting stance. The sounds of the menacing (yet copyright infringing) accordion kept getting louder. Suddenly…

" **I have you now!"**

A man, dressed exactly like a soldier would but with gas mask on his face and an olive-green cape covering his back, rose from the water as he strolled, almost strutting, towards them.

"...WHAT?!" everyone yelled in response of witnessing such event while pointing their fists and weapons at the man. The man chuckled in response as he kept strolling towards them. The gang took some slight step backwards just to feel safer.

"Give me…. **čevapi**." requested the man as suddenly, a lighting from a cloudless sky struck the sea, causing a humongous thunder. No one from Skeleton Mafia knew how to respond to such man like him.

"...Ordinary or from Leskovac?" daringly asked Brane while being completely on board of giving anyone his food.

"Any." responded the man in the most dramatic way possible while the gang still looked at him in confusion, possibly even fear.

"I'll be right back!" crowed Brane as he ran right inside the ship, so he could reach the kitchen as fast as possible. Everyone else just kept staring at him.

"...Who are you even?" asked Bowser, baffled about...everything about him.

"I am Balkan Lord of Čevapi. The sentinel of the darkness. Many truths and strengths are hidden inside me, but I seek life forms with incredible potential, so I can give them such powers. But great capability requires immense sacrifice. Therefore, I shall lend my hand towards the ones who could ascend to greatness….but they have to do me a single favor." the man introduced himself, only raising more questions in the progress.

"Lord of Čevapi? Are you serious? What do you mean by ALL OF….this...uh" stuttered Bowser while still not knowing how to respond. Others remained silent, but they felt great disturbance in the air.

"Even Hell itself couldn't come up with such bullshite, hahaha! Come at us, Aye dare ya!" cackled Mosseau at him while making a taunting gesture with his arms. The Balkan Lord of Čevapi chuckled at his response before turning towards a rusty boat that was lying ashore. He made a thrust with his arm, causing a loud sound akin to those heard in an explosion as the rusty boat itself turned into many meat dumplings a la čevapi. The jaws of everyone dropped after witnessing the action of his.

"Well….fuck me geggie. Hell didn't prepare me for 'tis." shuddered Mosseau, deciding it would be a better idea to be quiet.

"Now you see. Fighting back against such forms is futile." warned Balkan Lord of Čevapi as he turned towards them.

"Well…..what do you EVEN want to do!? How are we supposed to know when to attack if we don't know on what side are you on?" frantically kept asking Bowser while flailing his arms around.

"My quest is to make life beings with great potential ascend to prosperity, hence why I have come here." cleared up Balkan Lord of Čevapi as he pointed towards Bowser.

"So you're saying….you are sensing potential inside of me? Us?" Bowser pointed at himself in confusion. George secretly nodded in agreement with him.

The Balkan Lord of Čevapi chuckled before hearing Brane's footsteps, bum-rushing right out of the ship before landing near his gang, with a plate of many čevapi.

"Voila! Bon appetit!" cheered Brane as he gave the plate to the Balkan Lord. He picked up one of the meat dumplings and sucked it right through the filter on the mask, weirding out everyone. They waited for his review, clenching their fists in anxiety.

"..."

"..."

"You…." said Balkan Lord of Čevapi as he pointed at Brane, spooking him out. "You...make excellent čevapi."

"OH! Thank you, thank you!" thanked Brane, bowing down in front of the Balkan Lord of Čevapi.

"So, I get these new powers now?" asked Bowser, being all giddy about it as he raised his fist in excitement.

"...Not yet." declined Balkan Lord of Čevapi as he turned away from the group and started walking away from them, returning back to the sea.

"Huh?! Then what was THAT talk all about? FOR NOTHING?!" fumed Bowser as his expectations were crushed. Others still remained quiet about it.

"It is not that like you have not potential. On the contrary, you're one of the most intriguing types of life forms I've ever seen. Yet you are not prepared. For now I shall be your guide before granting you dark powers." explained Balkan Lord of Čevapi his reasoning for not giving him powers immediately.

"Prepared for what?!" demandingly asked Bowser as if he was interrogating him.

"..."

"..."

" **...For the consequences of the path you have chosen to follow."**

Suddenly, the Balkan Lord of Čevapi disappeared right in front of their eyes along with the čevapi that Brane has made. Everyone was left speechless as they boarded their flagship.

"What did he mean by this?" thought Bowser to himself before entering bridge and thus conceptualizing his next plan, but the thought itself couldn't go away.


End file.
